Erik ten Hag has promised he and his Manchester United players will do ‘everything’ to beat Manchester City in the Emirates FA Cup final and deny their crosstown rivals a potential Treble.
The crunch 3 June date – a first all-Manchester final – was confirmed on Sunday evening, following Manchester United’s nerve-shredding 7-6 penalty shootout victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley.
City booked their place in the final 24 hours earlier, with a routine 3-0 victory over Sheffield United.
Pep Guardiola’s men are through to the Champions League semi-finals and have a great opportunity to win a third consecutive Premier League title, as they seek to emulate the achievements of United’s class of 1999 – to date, the only English club to win the three major trophies in a single campaign.
Ten Hag knows United can beat the in-form Blues, as we did it at Old Trafford back in January, and the Dutchman vowed that we’d be doing everything in our power to give the supporters an afternoon that will live long in the memory.
“I understand, of course, the feelings from the Man United fans about it,” Ten Hag said at his post-match press conference from Wembley.
“We will do everything to give them that, to give them the second trophy, everything that I have, everything that the team has, everything the staff has, we will give everything to get that done.
“We can do it, because we proved it, but it’s not an easy job. It’s a great team, but we also have a great team and great players and we can beat them.
“More than 100 percent, you can do, so the fans can rely on that: we will give it and we will do it against every opponent, it doesn’t matter who it is.
“Of course, we want to give that against City. We want to give the fans that, sure.”
It was a battling performance to beat Brighton, with United forced to sit back and soak up pressure for sustained periods, including at the beginning of both halves in normal time.
When asked if our marathon season is beginning to catch up with the players physically, Ten Hag suggested fatigue could have been a factor in the Europa League defeat to Sevilla.
But he added that it is still possible for United to power through and get the job done, even when we are not at our optimum levels.
“It’s not easy. That can be part of the reason for Thursday, but it’s all in your mind. It’s all in your head.
“Today, we have seen that even when we are maybe not fully recovered from Thursday, we can bring the performance and even more, so it’s just about getting the right focus, getting the right energy, doing the right stuff.
“Have a good plan and go and be determined to win the games.”
