That’s about it for today’s liveblog. We’ll have a match report shortly. Thanks for your company, bye!
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Zlatan speaks “That was nice. It was a great cross from Herrera. This is a team effort. I came to win, and I’m winning. The more I win, the more satisfied I get. You appreciate winning more as you get older. This is my 32nd trophy – wow, I’m super happy.”
Interviewer “Has it gone better than you hoped when you signed?”
Zlatan “No, no. I knew what I could do, and now I’m doing it. Many people said I could not do it any more. My friend, I keep going.”
As bad as United were - and they were - that is a game they would have lost under David Moyes or Louis van Gaal. They have a resilience that wasn’t there a few months ago. Southampton gave them a chasing for large parts of the game.
That was a brilliant game. Southampton were outstanding throughout, much the better team, but the irresistible force of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s personality decided the match. He started the scoring, and then Southampton equalised, so he finished the scoring as well.
Manolo Gabbiadini scored two lovely goals for Southampton, and had a third wrongly disallowed at 0-0. In a parallel universe, he is a Southampton legend and a League Cup legend. Instead, he is a footnote in the story of yet another triumph in the unique career of Zlatan Ibrahimovic: champion, winner, pantomime bastard and all-round hero.
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Full time: Manchester United 3-2 Southampton
Manchester United win their first trophy under Jose Mourinho!
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90+4 min Bertrand’s 20-yard half-volley hits Bailly, and I think that will be it.
90+2 min For the first time in the match, Southampton look rushed and desperate. They could barely have played better in this game.
90+1 min There will be four minutes of added time.
90 min Southampton’s last change: Jay Rodriguez for Steven Davis.
89 min Marouane Fellaini comes on for Anthony Martial. This is so cruel on Southampton, who for most of the game have battered United.
This is brutally cruel on Southampton. It was, nonetheless, a superbly worked goal. Martial played a crisp, wide-eyed pass to Herrera in space on the right of the box. He stood up a wonderful ball towards the centre of the six-yard line, where Ibrahimovic was unmarked. There was total inevitability to what would happen next, and he headed emphatically past Forster. He is the swaggering definition of the word ‘champion’.
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GOAL! Manchester United 3-2 Southampton (Ibrahimovic 87)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has done it again!
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86 min How did that stay out! Bertrand’s low cross from the left flashed right across the face of goal, with both Long and Ward-Prowse so close to putting it into the net. They get a corner soon after, and Stephen’s header is cleared from inside the six-yard box by Ibrahimovic! De Gea probably had it covered behind him but even so, that was another close shave.
84 min Ibrahimovic plays a cute reverse pass to Rashford, who whacks a low shot towards goal from a very tight angle on the left side of the box. Forster kicks it behind for a corner.
83 min Another Southampton change: Shane Long replaces the marvellous Manolo Gabbiadini, who scored two goals and had a third wrongly disallowed. Long is the kind of relentless bugger you don’t want to face if you’re a tired defender.
82 min Redmond misplaces an inadvertent wall pass with Bailly, moves infield and drives a low shot from 20 yards that nicks off Carrick and goes wide. Ward-Prowse’s corner is headed away.
80 min United are having a decent spell, possibly their best of the game.
78 min “The greatest give and moan,” says Paul Ewart. “Ever.”
Haha. Yes, that clip wins pretty much everything. The best thing about it is that Souness got the wrong man – he wanted to get Lacatus and got the players mixed up. Apparently as he was booked he looked up and saw Lacatus winking at him with a smirk.
77 min A substitution for both sides: Sofiane Boufal replaces Dusan Tadic, and Marcus Rashford is on for Jesse Lingard.
76 min Ibrahimovic’s backheel towards Pogba forces Soares to concede a corner. Herrera overhits it but United keep the ball and eventually Lingard misses a great chance! A left-wing cross nicked off the head of a Southampton defender and came to him just beyond the far post. He took it on the chest and then, as it bounced up, smashed it over the bar from six yards. He did have Bertrand flying towards him but it was still a great chance.
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75 min That Rooney substitution never materialised, but it seems Marcus Rashford is about to come on.
74 min Ibrahimovic blasts it straight into the wall.
73 min Pogba is run over by Tadic, 25 yards from goal. It’s slightly to the right of centre, perfect for a left-footer, so the right-footed Zlatan Ibrahimovic will take it.
72 min Carrick has done a superb job defensively but there’s not much he can do about the threat on the flanks. Ward-Prowse breaks into space on the right and drags a good ball into the box that is crucially intercepted by Herrera. Redmond was waiting behind him and would have had a great chance.
71 min United get a free-kick on the right wing. Herrera plays a disguised cutback to Carrick in space on the edge of the area. He doesn’t really connect with his sidefooted shot and it’s kicked clear.
70 min Martial goes on a glorious, elegant run past two or three players before sliding a through pass towards Lingard. He tries to go round Forster but Yoshida stretches to concede a corner. Fine defending.
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68 min Another Southampton free-kick causes mild panic in United’s box before Ibrahimovic blooters it clear. United just can’t get into the game at all, which is a strange thing to say after 68 minutes, and when they were 2-0 up at one stage.
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66 min “I think Herrera is making something of a rod for his own back, unfortunately,” says Matt Loten. “He goes down theatrically three or four times a match and, combined with his own propensity to make some ‘questionable’ challenges, I think referees are starting to get wary of taking his overwrought pleas too seriously.”
Yeah, he needs to be careful with that. You can give it or moan about it but doing both is not ideal.
65 min Wayne Rooney is about to come on.
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64 min Whatever happens in the rest of this game, Southampton have been absolutely magnificent. They have played a good United team, and battered them.
63 min Beautiful play from Southampton! Davis’s disguised backheel finds Ward-Prowse on the right of the box, and his driven cross is put behind for a corner by Valencia. Without his interception, Bertrand would have scored. Then Romeu hits the post! Ward-Prowse’s corner from the left was a beauty. Romeu got above Pogba and steered a header onto the face of the post with the leaping De Gea beaten!
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61 min “Does Chris Smalling understand the term ‘weighted pass?’ He always passes STRAIGHT at the person or just behind them,” says Francis Mead. “’Weighted, Chris-WEIGHTED.’”
60 min Herrera is down holding his face. United, not for the first time in this match, try to a get a Southampton player sent off. This time they might have had a case: as Romeu jumped his arm hit Herrera in the face. They are so hard to judge, those leverage elbows. I can see both sides!
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59 min Forster plays a loose pass to Martial on the United left. He slides it through to Ibrahimovic, whose stabbed first-time shot from a tight angle is blocked by the outrushing Forster. He made up for his own mistake. United come again and Valencia dinks a beautiful ball towards the edge of the area for Martial - but Pogba gets in the way and they both leave it for each other. Oh dear.
57 min “Rob, dearest,” says Ian Copestake, “has your email address in the header been blanked out because you changed it to something obscene?”
Eh? I call FAKE BANTER on you Copestake.
56 min United have their first good spell of possession of the half. It ends when Redmond flattens Carrick, for which he is booked.
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54 min At the moment Southampton look much likelier to get the fifth goal. United have struggled to put more than a few passes together at any stage in the match. Pogba has been poor but he’s not alone in that.
53 min United look rattled. They are rattled. This isn’t supposed to happen to Jose Mourinho teams when they lead 2-0. They need to win the game again.
50 min That was a rare thing from Gabbiadini, the great goalscorer’s goal. His reactions and opportunism were wonderful. Lingard, meanwhile, is very lucky not to get a second yellow card for a trip on Redmond. Actually Redmond did him a favour by staying on his feet and when play eventually broke down Lingard was given only a last warning.
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It’s his second of the game. United couldn’t get out from a corner. The ball was headed back in from the edge of the box, and as it bounced up 10 yards from goal Gabbadini hooked a brilliant snapshot on the turn past the motionless De Gea.
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GOAL! Manchester United 2-2 Southampton (Gabbiadini 48)
Gabbiadini has equalised!
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48 min Ward-Prowse, who has been terrific, wins a corner on the right for Southampton. Tadic’s corner is half cleared and lofted back in to Redmond, who whistles a beautiful volley from 15 yards that is punched behind for a corner by De Gea.
47 min United have switched to the 4-3-3 we expected at the start of the match, with Lingard moving out to the right.
46 min United begin the second half, kicking from left to right.
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Manchester United have made a half-time substitution: Michael Carrick is on for Juan Mata. That makes sense on pretty much every level.
This is a good point “In the Ibra goal, I think the ball travelled at a greater pace than your typical inside of the boot curler,” says Phil Podolsky. “Which is what confused Forster, who must’ve decided he didn’t have the time to take the couple of small steps keepers usually take before jumping to the other side of the goal on free kicks, so his leap wasn’t all that.”
“In other news, I just bought Jumpers for Goalposts,” says Dael Morris. “Do you get anything off the back of that?”
Bugger all. But if 48,124,891,891 more of you buy it, I’ll be set up for life!
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“Eddie Izzard once talked about a circle of cool,” says Matt Dony. “You can move around the circle, looking cooler and cooler, until you get to a certain point where you cross back from very cool to very uncool. I think there’s a similar circle of arrogance, starting at humble and likeable (say, Zola), getting increasingly confident (most footballers), past outright dislikable arrogance (Lord Bendtner), and back to likeable again. Zlatan embodies this anomaly. He should not be likeable, but he is. It’s his world, and we’re all thankful to be in it.”
He’s the best pantomime bastard in football history.
“Well,” says Simon Rose, “that goal being disallowed today makes up for Bobby Stokes’ offside winner in 1976!”
Half-time chit-chat
Dael Morris “I saw the replay of the offside decision and it’s hard to tell - what they gave us was just before the ball was struck, and he’s definitely onside then. If he’s offside a nanosecond later, then the assistant is brilliant, if unknowingly so. I also agree that Zlatan’s goal is soft. The keeper is just late. What is noticeable is that United are flustered. The occasion has got to them. And for all the talking up of Pogba, he’s not a good defensive/holding midfielder. He keeps drifting into the center and into the attack and leaves a hole on United’s left between Martial and Rojo. The result is that we have half a midfield and our attack is neutered.”
Derryl Murphy “Lying on the floor with a back injury, following your updates and contemplating my age and death, especially after the awful news about Bill Paxton today. It’s all a very good combination any time United has the lead.”
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Half time: Manchester United 2-1 Southampton
Peep peep! That’s the end of a cracking first half. Southampton have been the better team, and had a good goal disallowed at 0-0 before Ibrahimovic (big-game specialist) and Lingard (Wembley specialist) did their thing. At that stage it would have been easy for Southampton to feel sorry for themselves but they keep coming and Gabbiadini scored a deserved goal in added time. See you in 10 minutes for the second half!
It’s an excellent goal. Redmond plays the ball down the right to Ward-Prowse, who sidefoots a cracking cross towards the near post. Gabbiadini gets between the central defenders and pings it first time through the legs of De Gea.
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GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Southampton (Gabbiadini 45+1)
Southampton deserve this!
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44 min “I’ve just watched that Ibrahimovic free kick several times and it was perfect, great goal for a final,” says John. “Have a good evening.”
Ah fair enough. Yes I only saw one replay so am quite probably wrong.
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44 min Tadic runs at Bailly in the box but is then forced to use it right foot, and it all goes wrong, big-time.
42 min “Is it lonely there?” says Bruce Jackson. “I’ve been ‘vacuuming’ and watching the rugby, as the proper game’s only on Sky.Perhaps a few others have as well? What do you know about the rules of rugby and the difference between a ruck and only a tackle?”
Sweet bugger all, Bruce, I know sweet bugger all.
40 min Stephens is booked for a bad tackle on Martial. The United players reacted furiously, and for a while it looked like Stephens would been sent off. It was a lunge, with his studs showing, but it was one-footed and he didn’t go over the top, so a yellow card feels just about right. Lingard is also booked, presumably for dissent.
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Jesse Lingard gets his third goal in as many games at Wembley. Rojo combined neatly with Mata and Martial on the left before squaring the ball to Lingard in space just inside the box. He got the ball out of his feet before sidefooting it through Yoshida’s legs and past the diving Forster. It was a calm finish but poor defending from Southampton. Lingard had far too much space.
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Southampton (Lingard 38)
The Wembley specialist strikes again!
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36 min “Surely Bertrand was interfering with play?” asks Malcolm Shuttleworth. “Therefore that goal was quite rightly disallowed.”
Not by the current interpretation of the laws, though he was incontrovertibly offside in the year 1991.
35 min Another corner to Southampton, their fourth of the match. United have had none. Ward-Prowse’s inswinger rebounds to Stephens, who is only two yards from goal but at a tight angle. He eschews the shot and tries to lay it back to the waiting Yoshida. There’s a United defender in the way and he clears. It all happened really fast but on reflection Stephens could have just leathered that at goal.
33 min I’m not having Pogba in midfield in a 4-2-3-1, not in proper games. United are really struggling here and Southampton have found far too much space in the hole.
32 min An incisive angled pass from Redmond finds Tadic in the D. He has plenty of time, having run away from the lazy Pogba, but the shot is too close to De Gea and he is able to save his legs.
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31 min “Out there but losing interest,” says Robin Griller. “Saints up against it, can’t do it with the referees tilting it to United with such poor calls as the ‘offside’.”
They’ve been the better team either side of the goal, and United still look a bit sluggish, so I wouldn’t worry yet.
30 min Using Lingard as a No10 hasn’t worked at all and it’s a surprise he hasn’t been swapped with Mata. Obviously that means a lack of pace in central area but that’s preferable to a lack of anything.
28 min Gabbiadini lays the ball back to Ward-Prowse, whose vicious low drive is well saved down to his right by De Gea.
27 min United are ahead but they haven’t been very good. It’s hard to know how much of that is down to the absence of Carrick and especially Mkhitaryan, and how much is just that they aren’t playing well at this stage.
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25 min Lingard plays a through pass towards Ibrahimovic that is cut out by the sliding Yoshida.
24 min This is a test of Southampton’s mental strength, because they should probably be ahead and instead they are behind. Meanwhile, Herrera is booked for a nothing foul on Redmond. That was harsh.
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21 min I’m still not sure what to make of that goal. It was a cracking strike, and it fits the Ibrahimovic profile that he should do something like that in a cup final. I’m a bit surprised Forster didn’t get something on it though.
At first it looked like a great goal from Ibrahimovic. But while it was beautifully struck, curled over the wall and towards the bottom left of the goal, it wasn’t right in the corner and Forster might feel he should have done better.
GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 Southampton (Ibrahimovic 20)
Ibrahimovic has hardly touched the ball - and now he has given United the lead with a majestic free-kick!
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19 min There are a few contenders for this free-kick: Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimovic and Pogba...
18 min Herrera is flattened 25 yards from goal by Romeu, who is booked.
17 min A few minutes of nothingness, which is just wanted United needed after a torrid spell.
13 min Southampton look the sharper team at the moment and are getting a bit of joy down both flanks. Tadic’s delicious cross from the left is superbly defended by Rojo, who heads away under considerable pressure from Ward-Prowse.
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12 min It was the wrong decision. Oh my. Bertrand was in an offside position in front of goal but he had nothing to do with the move, and Gabbiadini was definitely behind Chris Smalling. Southampton should be 1-0 up.
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11 min: Gabbiadini has a goal disallowed for offside! It came from Cedric’s low cross, which left Gabbiadini with a tap-in from six yards. We haven’t seen a replay yet but there were few complaints.
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10 min Ward-Prowse curls the corner in and Rojo heads clear. It’s been a cautious start to the game.
9 min Redmond’s long-range shot deflects off Herrera for a corner. That begets a second corner, this time on the left...
7 min It’s been a respectful start from both sides, and as I type United are having their first extended spell of possession. Nothing comes of it. I’m not sure about Lingard in that role; he’s usually a lot more effective with his movement from the right.
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4 min Ibrahimovic plays a square pass to Pogba, who gets it out of his feet and monsters one towards goal from 25 yards. It was too straight and Forster was able to punch it away. By the way it looks like Lingard is playing as the No10, not Mata. Don’t ask me why, I’m not fluent in tactics.
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4 min “Niall was one of the top goalies in Belfast, and was well known for stopping counterattacks on halfway from corners,” writes Sinclair Dowey. “Australia’s gain is certainly Belfasts loss. We miss him madly!”
There’s only one Niall Harden.
3 min Southampton have made a fast start. A fine cross from the left by Tadic flashes right across the face of goal, and then Bailly has to lump clear after Ward-Prowse’s cross bounces off Valencia.
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2 min “I think you need to check your football-writer privilege, Rob,” says Matt Loten. “If my boss caught me watching video montages of Le Tissier’s best goals on the company dime, I’d be out on my arse before the poorly-chosen montage music played out!”
It’s funny how different companies have different policies. At the Guardian it’s a sackable offence if you don’t spend at least six hours a day on TweetDeck.
1 min Peep peep! Southampton kick off form left to right. They are wearing their white third kit, which apparently is not available to buy. It bloody will be if they win today.
There’s a belting atmosphere at Wembley. United are the designated home side and are wearing red. It’s EFL Cup final time!
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Porn that’s safe for work!
Look, if this doesn’t get you in the mood then nothing will. What a crying shame the only final he played in was the Zenith Data Systems Cup final of 1992. Imagine what he might have done in an FA Cup final.
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“Hello Rob,” says Niall Harden. “It is just gone 3am here in Melbourne and I just wanted to say hi. I like your writing, it is good writing. I am drunk, but not as drunk as you were when we briefly met in a pub in Brighton five years ago.”
The early hours of July 22, 2012, yeah. On that subject, if you would like to sponsor my noble attempt to go a year without booze, you are most welcome.
A Southampton win today would be a surprise, but it probably wouldn’t register on the list of League Cup final shocks. There have been some gems down the years.
Some pre-match reading
More acronyms initialism “If the rumours of United buying Griezmann do turn out to be true, presumably Martial would make way?” says Tom Houslay. “Imagine the fear on the opposition’s faces when Mourinho brings out the Griezmann, Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan & Pogba…”
Team news
Southampton’s XI is as expected. United find room for Wembley specialist Jesse Lingard in a very attacking side.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1) De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Bailly, Rojo; Herrera, Pogba; Lingard, Mata, Martial; Ibrahimovic.
Substitutes: Romero, Blind, Young, Fellaini, Carrick, Rooney, Rashford.
Southampton (4-2-3-1) Forster; Soares, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand; Davis, Romeu, Davis; Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Redmond; Gabbiadini.
Substitutes: Hassen, Long, Rodriguez, Caceres, Boufal, Hojbjerg, McQueen.
Referee Andre Marriner.
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“Would it be churlish of me to point out that EFL isn’t an acronym?” says James Austen. “It’s an initialism. Apart from that, keep up the good work.”
Oh crikey, of course it is. A great start to the MBM.
We know all about the 1976 FA Cup final between these sides, which is taught on the school curriculum in Southampton.
They’ve had a couple of memorable League Cup meetings, too. Southampton’s 4-1 win in 1986 changed English football history: Ron Atkinson was sacked and replaced by a 44-year-old disciplinarian called Alex Ferguson.
And in 1990-91, when United had one of the all-time-great cup runs only to lose to second division Sheffield Wednesday in the final, Mark Hughes and Alan Shearer had a personal battle in the quarter-final.
Hughes, who demonstrated his black belt in volleying to earn a replay after United were battered at the Dell, eventually won the tie 4-3. Look out also for a glorious first touch from Matt Le Tissier in the first game.
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Preamble
No matter how low football stoops – and it’ll eventually find a way to outdo this week’s nadir – the magic of cup final day will never fade. Nothing will change that: not a loss of soul, or three-figure ticket prices, or even a slightly naff acronym-based name. Yep, it’s EFL Cup final day!
For Manchester United and Southampton, there are reasons to be veru excited. Southampton hope to win only the second major trophy in their history and the first since Bobby Stokes’ clearly onside/palpably offside/hilariously offside (delete as appropriate) goal beat United in the 1976 FA Cup final. United are starting to resemble a serious team again under Jose Mourinho and there is good reason to think that, if they win today, it will be the first of many trophies over the next 10 years, maybe even the next 10 weeks. The League Cup is to Mourinho what the Anglo-Scottish Cup was to Brian Clough.
The game isn’t easy to call. United are favourites - duh - but Southampton have dumped out eliminated Arsenal and Liverpool and have a menacing, nippy front three. Against that, their weakened defence has to cope with Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Mata and Martial. They need an acronym of their own. Anyone for Pimm’s?
Kick off is at 4.30pm.
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