It turns out the number 26 wasn't a good omen for Manchester United as Villarreal shocked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men in the Europa League final.
The La Liga side were victorious in Gdansk as they defeated United 11-10 on penalties to win their first European trophy.
Solskjaer had hoped the number 26 would have been a good luck charm for his players, but it didn't turn out that way.
The final took place on the 26th, which also happens to be the date of the late Matt Busby's birthday, his wedding anniversary and his wife's birthday.
The Old Trafford boss referenced it before kick-off, saying, “When it’s something positive, you think it will work in your favour, so I think it will be a good omen for us.
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“My wife's birthday is on the 26th, we got married on the 26th, so I have to believe in destiny or 'skjebne' in Norwegian.
“It's a special number for us, for my family as well. I've got to take this as a good omen. I'm not very superstitious, but it looks like a good sign.
“But the players need to do their job. Maybe we can honour Sir Matt’s birthday with another win.
"We know, of course Sir Alex is with us, we know the 26th of May is Sir Matt’s birthday, but the players when they sign for United, they do so to win trophies.
“They accept the challenge of being the best, because this is the best club in the world, and that's the pressure of Manchester United.”
But it turns out the Old Trafford boss didn't fully lean into the number 26 if he did think it had some sort of significance.
He left United's number 26, Dean Henderson, on the bench when there were calls for him to start the game over David de Gea or to replace him for the penalty shootout.
De Gea has a notoriously poor record in saving penalties which is now even worse as he let in eleven of eleven on Thursday night.
The Spaniard has failed to keep out 36 spot-kicks in a row with many suggesting Solskjaer should have turned to his no.1 Henderson for the shootout.
And the Red Devils boss admitted, in the build-up to the game, he did consider the change but wanted to stick with the keeper who had played the full match.
Solskjaer explained: "You go through every scenario, of course. And it had crossed my mind in the build-up to the game but we were confident in David and prepared.
"Anything can happen in a penalty shootout. I stuck with the 'keeper who played all of the game.
"I've got to say the penalty shootout was high quality, but we didn't do enough in the 120 minutes to score more goals and that's the disappointing bit.
"We had pressure, we had moments where we felt if we can just kick on a little bit now we can get a goal. But we just couldn't."
