Manchester United end trophy drought with Carabao Cup final victory over Newcastle
A quadruple is still on for the Red Devils, who got their hands on their first silverware since 2017 in comfortable fashion at Wembley
Manchester United clinched their first silverware since 2017 with a controlled 2-0 win over Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
Goals from Casemiro and Marcus Rashford in the space of six first-half minutes did the job for Erik ten Hag's side, who produced a defensive masterclass throughout to restrict Newcastle to just two shots on target.
For the Magpies – who were playing in their first final since 1999, when the same opposition beat them to the FA Cup – their 54-year trophy drought goes on.
Ultimately, this final closely followed the form book: United arrived at Wembley having won 16 and lost just one of their last 20 games; Newcastle had failed to win six of their last 10.
And when Casemiro headed in Luke Shaw's free-kick on 33 minutes, such was the Red Devils' supreme defensive organisation, it already looked like it would be their day.
Five minutes later, as Sven Botman deflected Marcus Rashford's shot past the returning Loris Karius – who might have done better – they had one hand on their sixth League Cup.
A quadruple is still a possibility for United, who advanced to the Europa League round of 32 with victory over Barcelona on Thursday and host West Ham in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday.
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And a first Premier League title in a decade isn't absolutely out of the question for the 20-time English champions, who trail leaders Arsenal by eight points with 14 games to go.
For Newcastle, meanwhile, attention turns squarely to their push to secure a top-four finish for the first time since 2003.
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...