Manchester United won the FA Cup final 2-1 in an upset victory, with both goals scored by teenagers, the first since Cristiano Ronaldo managed it in 2004.
Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo have become the first teenagers to score in an FA Cup final since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2004.
In the first half of today’s FA Cup final against Manchester City, 19-year-old Garnacho capitalised on a mix-up between Stefan Ortega and Josko Gvardiol to become the first teenager to net in the competition’s showpiece match since Ronaldo did against Millwall in 2004, also for the Red Devils.
Garnacho’s goal made him the third teenager to score for United in an FA Cup final after Ronaldo 20 years ago and Norman Whiteside back in 1983.
Then, just nine minutes later, a brilliant United move ended with Bruno Fernandes laying Garnacho’s pass into Mainoo, who coolly finished to double United’s lead at just 19-years-old.
Mainoo’s finish made it the first men’s FA Cup final to see two different teenagers scire.
Aged just 19 years and 36 days, Mainoo is the youngest English goalscorer in the game since John Sissons for West Ham in 1964.
Mainoo is also the first English teenager to score in an FA Cup final since Steve MacKenzie for City against Tottenham in 1981.
The match would eventually end 2-1 in an upset victory, after Doku scored at the latter stages of the match. It would not be enough to stop Ten Hag’s men who held on to win their next door neighbors and upset their plan for a ‘Double Double’
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What it means for United Europe bid
Manchester United’s FA Cup upset win means they will play in the Europa League next season and Newcastle miss out on European qualification.
The winners of the FA Cup (which was won by United late this evening at Wembley) are handed a Europa League place meaning despite finishing eighth, Erik ten Hag’s side will be playing in Europe next season.
The knock-on effect of that means Chelsea, who finished sixth in the Premier League, will now play in the Conference League and seventh-placed Newcastle miss out completely on European football.
Ten Hag on his future
Erik ten Hag, after the game was once again asked about his future at Old Trafford, the Dutch manager had this to say “I don’t know. The only thing I’m doing is preparing my team, developing my team. This is a project for me. When I came in I can say it was a mess. Now we are better. We are not where we want to be.
“Football is about winning trophies. I want to play the best football, dynamic, attacking football, but in the end, you have to win games and trophies. That’s the mentality we brought in. This was our one opportunity and we did it. I‘m very proud of the players and staff.”
Who has qualified for Europe?
Champions League: Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa
Europa League: Tottenham, Man Utd.
How the new Champions League, Europa and Conference League format works
Taking the total number of teams from 32 to 36 in the Champions League, the biggest change will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.
Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of eight league-stage games against eight different opponents (four home games, four away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home-and-away basis.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.
Teams ranked 25-36 are eliminated from all competitions.
Similar changes will be seen in the Europa League and Europa Conference League formats, with 36 teams in each.
Teams in the Europa League will have eight matches against eight different opponents in the league phase.
In the Europa Conference League (which has been renamed the UEFA Conference League) teams will have six matches against six different opponents in the league phase.
The UEFA Conference League games will be played between September and December.
The knockout phase of the competitions will take place through the second half of the season and culminate at the end of the campaign, as they do now.
