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Much was written about Erik ten Hag being a “dead man walking” heading into Manchester United’s FA Cup final encounter with Manchester City at Wembley.
However, the Man United manager and his Red Devils woke up in some fashion to stun Pep Guardiola’s men, delivering a tactically astute performance to beat the favourites 2-1 and take home the club’s thirteenth FA Cup trophy.
Apart from his tactics, which have largely been underwhelming over the course of the season, the Dutchman has received backlash for his decision-making in the transfer market, with the majority of his signings failing to impress at Old Trafford.
However, at Wembley, Sofyan Amrabat stepped up to show just why Ten Hag was so keen to reunite with his former FC Utrecht talent.
The combative midfielder’s physicality and positional awareness proved key in helping United maintain compactness in the middle of the park and forced City’s chief playmaker Kevin De Bruyne to move out wide to find any breathing space.
Legendary midfielder Paul Scholes took note of the Moroccan’s midfield exploits on Saturday afternoon. On his Instagram story, he praised the midfield engine by writing: “Like a prime Gattusso [sic] today.”
source: Instagram
The way Amrabat covered the ground and outmuscled City players makes the comparison with AC Milan legend Gennaro Gattuso certainly feel apt.
However, whether that would be enough to convince the club’s hierarchy to turn his loan move into a permanent transfer remains unclear.
United reportedly negotiated a £21.4 million purchase option when they loaned the player from Fiorentina last summer. Ahead of this summer, the 27-year-old is attracting plenty of interest from the Premier League.
While Scholes hailed Amrabat, another United midfield legend, Roy Keane, praised Bruno Fernandes in his post-match analysis for ITV Sport.
Keane has been critical of Fernandes’ leadership skills over the years, but the former United skipper insisted he was happy “to be proved wrong” on Saturday.
Akin to Amrabat, the current United captain did not stop running until the final whistle. More importantly, he showed his creative genius by finding Kobbie Mainoo with a cheeky pass in City’s penalty box. The academy sensation made no mistake from close range and doubled his side’s lead.
All and all it was a great day for United’s midfield!
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