United clash with Newcastle in Carabao Cup final
Manchester United set up a Carabao Cup final clash with Newcastle after they saw off Nottingham Forest 5-0 on aggregate.
Leading 3-0 from the first leg of their semi-final after a dominant performance last week at the City ground, United completed the job at Old Trafford with late goals from Anthony Martial and Fred to seal a 2-0 win.
They even managed to give a run out to Jadon Sancho, making his first appearance for the club after an extended absence of more than three months.
Erik ten Hag now has the opportunity to claim a first piece of silverware in his debut season with the club, which would end a six-year wait since United’s last trophy – the 2017 Europa League, under Jose Mourinho.
Despite their advantage from the first leg, Ten Hag still named a strong side, with the likes of Luke Shaw, Raphael Varane and Casemiro all featuring.
Forest were forced to replace Jesse Lingard with Emmanuel Dennis after the former Man. United player was injured in the warm-up, which proved a further setback in their attempts to do the impossible.
It was a low-key first-half until both sides had good chances just before the break. At one end Dennis was teed up by Brennan Johnson before being denied, when his shot struck his own team-mate in Sam Surridge. At the other end Casemiro then crossed beautifully for Wout Weghorst, but his header hit the post.
United were comfortable but Ten Hag still opted to put on Martial and Marcus Rashford on the hour, while he also brought on Sancho, who returned for the first time since October 22.
The pair then combined after a quick turnover as Martial fired in United’s first of the night on 73 minutes, beating Wayne Hennessy from close range.
And a few minutes later, Rashford latched onto a Bruno Fernandes cross to square the ball across for Fred, who tapped into an empty net. — SuperSport
