Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has named a 22-man travelling squad for the FA Cup final against Manchester City.
United took the train to London for the final on Friday afternoon. Security attempted to smuggle players and staff into Stockport Station via the rear entrance but were unsuccessful. City left for London via Manchester Piccadilly.
Ten Hag was the last to board the train, in what is believed to be a superstitious ritual for the Dutchman. The United manager is always the last to disembark from the team coach at away games.
In a season where United have recorded 65 separate cases of injury or illness that have caused a player to miss a game, they are only missing three players for Saturday’s final.
Left back Tyrell Malacia has missed the entirety of the season with a knee injury, Luke Shaw has been sidelined for three months with a hamstring problem and Harry Maguire has been ruled out with a muscular injury.
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Maguire has failed to start in all four of the finals United have reached since he joined the club in 2019. The 31-year-old missed the Europa League final with an ankle ligament injury in May 2021 and he was on the bench for the League Cup and FA Cup finals last year.
Ten Hag could manage United for the final time amid the expectation he will be dismissed after the final. United have refused to comment on Ten Hag’s position.
United won the League Cup last season but lost 2-1 in last year’s FA Cup final to City. Ten Hag referenced his record in finals at what was possibly his last pre-match press conference at United’s Carrington training complex on Friday.
“It’s all about trophies and we have a huge opportunity to win a trophy,” Ten Hag stressed. “So the last ten years, not so many trophies in this club but we have an opportunity to win two trophies in two years.
“Every game I want to win and that’s it. I just focus on this game as I do for every game and I know it’s an important game because it’s about a trophy.
“An FA Cup final is a big event and we are there, even in the season which is not in our way we are there. We have an opportunity and it’s never been easy but we have to go for it and we will go for it.
“We have to believe as we did last season, as we know often against good opponents, we play our best football and I expect this to do the same again on Saturday.
“I came here to win trophies, Saturday I have the next opportunity, we achieved this, we earned this opportunity as a team and now we have to go for it.
“I think we were very competitive until a VAR decision at Old Trafford, a tough decision, I thought. I didn’t understand, no one understood, we haven’t seen this decision in the rest of the season in such a moment in a penalty situation.
“At Etihad, for 70 minutes we were very good in the game, we had opportunities to score a second goal and then they could sub, we didn’t have a bench and that’s a big difference.
“On Saturday, we will have a bench and a much stronger side.”
United squad: Onana, Bayindir, Heaton, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Martinez, Evans, Kambwala, Lindelof, Casemiro, Mainoo, Eriksen, McTominay, Amrabat, Mount, Fernandes, Amad, Antony, Garnacho, Rashford, Hojlund