Manchester United’s six-year trophy drought is finally over.
The Red Devils are this season’s EFL Cup winners after beating Newcastle 2-0 in the final at Wembley.
Casemiro opened the scoring with a 33rd minute header…while Marcus Rashford kept up his hot-streak with United’s second six minutes later.
The victory has set a number of milestones for United.
This is their first trophy since their Europa League title in 2017.
It is also Erik Ten Hag’s first piece of silverware in his debut season with the Old Trafford club. This makes him the second manager after Jose Mourinho to lift a trophy in his first campaign in charge.
The 2-0 win also saw David de Gea set a new record for clean sheets, with the keeper taking his overall tally to 181 games without letting in a goal.
This is one game more than club legend – the ‘Great Dane’ Peter Schmeichel.
One down, three to go?
With one trophy already in the cabinet this season, Ten Hag and co will no doubt turn their attention back to the EPL, FA Cup and Europa League campaigns.
The Red Devils will take on West Ham in the FA Cup 5th round early next month…before two legs against Real Betis in the last-16 Europa League.
United are also currently third in the Premier League standings, but with only six points separating them from second-placed Man City, and eight points from leaders Arsenal, few can blame them for perhaps at least fantasizing of a league title run as well.
But even if the EFL Cup ends up being United’s only trophy this season, it marks a significant achievement for the club under Ten Hag.
Few could have predicted they’d get this far when the Dutchman first took over in the summer. The team was in a shambles after the Ralf Rangnick debacle, and Ten Hag was only expected to right the ship and slowly rebuild the team ahead of a proper title push next season.
But in just half a season since taking over, the team is playing some of the best football in recent years, he’s already won one title, and they’re still in contention for honours on three other fronts.
Many may regard them as a team still ‘under construction’, but Ten Hag has undoubtedly shown that the foundation is already there, upon which he’s building what the Old Trafford faithful are hoping will be another great United side.
