Manchester United defeated Newcastle United 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium to win our first major trophy in six years.
Casemiro’s bullet header opened the scoring midway through the first half, before Marcus Rashford’s effort deflected off Newcastle defender Sven Botman to double the lead, which was ruled an own goal by the Magpies defender.
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Newcastle put David De Gea under pressure in the second half, but the Reds held on to win in London and would have extended their lead but for Loris Karius’ heroics. Erik ten Hag has now won his first trophy as Manchester United manager, in his first season since joining from Ajax.
Both teams began with quick counter-attacks in an attempt to catch the other team off guard. United’s first chance came when Wout Weghorst played a great pass to Rashford, who turned and attempted to feed a pass in to Bruno Fernandes, but the Newcastle defence cleared. Meanwhile, Allan Saint-deft Maximin’s run down the left wing required Fred to make a spectacular tackle.
The Reds’ best attempt In the early exchanges came 12 minutes into the final. Diogo Dalot’s cross landed on Fred’s head, who guided it behind him to Weghorst. The Dutch forward got the better of Fabien Schar and Sean Longstaff before shooting straight at Loris Karius. The Magpies, meanwhile, broke quickly down the right flank with Kieran Trippier. The England international found Sean Longstaff’s run, and the Newcastle-born midfielder fired a dangerous low cross across goal.
The game then truly came to life. Casemiro rose high into the air and nodded the ball past the debuting Karius to open the scoring after Luke Shaw whipped in a wonderful free-kick. VAR reviewed the goal, but Callum Wilson’s foot appeared to keep our Brazilian star onside, and the goal stood as Wembley erupted again.
Rashford, the man of the moment, took centre stage moments later. United’s no.10 started on the left and linked up well with Weghorst, who made a beautiful run into Newcastle territory. He made an excellent pass to Rashford, whose shot deflected off Botman and over the head of Karius to double our lead. Marcus’ 25th goal of the season in all competitions was eventually ruled an own goal.
Weghorst nearly scored a third goal for Ten Hag’s men as the half came to a close. After some wonderful trickery by Antony, beating Dan Burn down the right flank, Weghorst composed himself and fired a long-range shot that forced Karius to make a save.
United looked to put the game out of reach only 30 seconds into the half. Rashford played a short pass into Fred’s path, but his side-footed effort sailed wide of the post. Antony tried to get in on the action a minute later, with a trademark curling effort from the right side that fell straight into Karius’ gloves.
The Magpies spent the first 15 minutes of the second half looking for a way back into the final, but wayward passes from Saint-Maximin prevented the Toon Army from making a serious attack on United’s goal. Joelinton had the best chance, with two big chances to score in the space of a few seconds, the first being blocked by substitute Aaron Wan-Bissaka and the second ricocheting off Lisandro Martinez.
Rashford threatened again after Newcastle’s attack was neutralised. Substitute Marcel Sabitzer’s pass found the England international, who turned and shot at Karius’ goal, forcing the German to make a great save.
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Ten Hag’s men continued to attack, with Bruno Fernandes storming through with Rashford in a two-against-one break against Trippier. However, the full-back recovered in time to make the block. Ten minutes later, Fernandes’ long ball found Rashford on the left wing, and he exchanged passes with sub Jadon Sancho before allowing Wan-Bissaka to try a long-range shot that Karius saved.
As time ran out, Joe Willock swerved a long-range shot narrowly off target, and Joelinton forced De Gea to claw the ball away, but Fernandes should have provided the icing on the cake when clean through, only for Karius to make a brilliant save. In the end, it didn’t matter because the Reds were able to celebrate the final whistle on a joyous occasion at Wembley.
