Manchester United are winners of the FA Cup 2024. They beat bitter rivals Manchester City 2-1.
Erik ten Hag ends the season on a monumental high, with the Red Devils emerging victorious at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
It was two academy graduates who were Manchester United’s goalscorers. Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo’s strikes ensured Manchester is well and truly red for the time being.
But as the youngsters will take the credit, an immense amount of praise deserves to be heaped on one Manchester United man.
One of Manchester United’s star men…
There was a sea of good performances, so it’s hard to single just one player out. But, we will anyway. A huge contributor to Manchester United’s victory just had to be Lisandro Martinez.
The Argentine oozed class from minute one and ensured that the Premier League’s top goalscorer Erling Haaland barely had a sniff all game.
Martinez was a calm and assured figure at the back who led by example for the Red Devils. How they’ve missed him this season.
Wayne Rooney raved about him, and Pep Guardiola gave him one of his most generous comments ever. It was plain to see from everyone his emphatic impact on the fixture.
His fabulous all-round game was reflected in some fantastic stats on the day. He barely put a foot wrong.
- 73 minutes played
- 18/20 accurate passes (90%)
- 29 touches
- 3 passes into the final third
- 5 clearances
- 1 interceptions
- 1/2 ground duels won (50%)
- 1/1 aerial duels won (100%)
Lisando Martinez has been missed this season
After a season plagued with injuries, Martinez was tasked with starting from the off against the treble winners, and it was almost as if he’d been playing week-in week-out all season. Effortless.
You can’t help but think that if he and Raphael Varane had been fit all season, Manchester United might have been in a different spot altogether in the Premier League.
The two will now never play together again in red, with Varane departing – but wow, what a way for this partnership to bow out.