Erik ten Hag says Manchester United must use the pain of their narrow FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City to improve and eventually catch their dominant neighbours.
The eyes of the footballing world were on Wembley as these rivals went toe-to-toe in a major cup final for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring with a stunning volley after 12 seconds, with Bruno Fernandes’ penalty cancelling out the quickest goal in FA Cup final history.
But City regained the lead through another Gundogan volley to seal a 2-1 win, giving them a chance to emulate United’s 1999 treble heroes in next weekend’s Champions League final.
Many United fans had started the long, train strike-impacted journey home when their rivals lifted the trophy, but Ten Hag and his team watched those celebrations.
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“First of all, show respect always,” the Dutchman said. “But, yeah, of course, it’s a motivation.
“You have to feel it in your stomach. This hurts and it has to be fuel.
“We want to be there and our team, my players, deserved it, but you have to grab it and that is the next step we have to make.”
It was a galling end to a promising first season under Ten Hag, who is proud to have overseen a third-placed finish, Carabao Cup win and narrow FA Cup final loss.
“I want to congratulate City for winning the FA Cup, but I think it was very narrow, it was head to head,” he said. “We played very competitive out of a very good organisation.
“We didn’t allow them out from open play against probably the best team in the world in this moment.
“We fought back after going a quick goal down and I think we are the only team in the world who is capable of fighting back against this team from City.
“So, yeah, I was happy with the performance of my team.”
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