Manchester United바카라™s Premier League title hopes may be fading, but a first final under Erik ten Hag is now in sight.
A 3-0 away win in the first leg of the League Cup semifinals against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday put United in control ahead of the return fixture at Old Trafford next week.
Goals from Marcus Rashford, Wout Weghorst and Bruno Fernandes at the City Ground went some way toward easing the disappointment of the late 3-2 loss to Arsenal on Sunday, which dented United바카라™s challenge at the top of the league.
Ten Hag, however, has moved a step closer to the club바카라™s first silverware for six years.
A Wembley final against Newcastle or Southampton awaits United unless Forest can mount an unlikely fightback.
Newcastle leads Southampton 1-0 after the first leg.
바카라śWe have to play one game, we have to do the same,바카라ť Ten Hag said. 바카라śWe have to prepare, make good game plan and the players have to be focused.바카라ť
Rashford opened the scoring for United after six minutes with a run from the halfway line before bursting past Joe Worrall and Remo Freuler in the box and finishing clinically.
It was the in-form England forward바카라™s 10th goal in as many games since returning from the World Cup and his fifth in the League Cup this season. No player from Europe바카라™s big five leagues has scored as many over that period.
Sam Surridge had a goal ruled out by VAR for offside before Weghorst, who signed on loan from Burnley this month, scored his first for his new club in the 45th.
Antony바카라™s shot from the edge of the box was only parried by Forest goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and Weghorst reacted sharply to convert the rebound.
Fernandes rounded off the scoring in the 89th and likely ended Forest바카라™s slim hopes of a comeback.
바카라śWe바카라™ve put ourselves in this situation and we have to deal with it next week,바카라ť Forest manager Steve Cooper said.
United hasn바카라™t won a trophy since 2017 when Jose Mourinho바카라™s team lifted the League Cup and Europa League in his first season in charge.
Ten Hag is aiming to replicate that feat by delivering a trophy in his debut campaign after being appointed at the end of last season.
The former Ajax coach spoke this week of the importance of picking up silverware in his bid to return United to its former glories.
He questioned his players바카라™ winning mentality after the defeat to Arsenal left his team 11 points off the league leader, but got the desired response against Forest.
바카라śWe lost the last game so we had to produce now and as a team we did,바카라ť United defender Lisandro Martinez said. 바카라śYou can see when we do the right things we don바카라™t concede goals. We controlled the game, but we still have many things to improve on and we have to keep going.바카라ť
