Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho's heartbreaking Instagram post after FA Cup final | OneFootball

Eighteen-year-old Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho was distraught at the full-time whistle after their 2-1 defeat to fierce rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final yesterday afternoon.

As the full-time whistle sounded at Wembley Stadium to seal the fate of Manchester United, Garnacho collapsed to the pitch in tears, visibly distraught that his team hadn’t been able to stop City’s charge at the treble.

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The Argentinian youngster came on in the 62nd minute to replace Christian Eriksen to quickly become United’s main attacking threat, and was arguably United’s best player from the moment he stepped onto the pitch.

Garnacho impressed during FA Cup final cameo

Prior to the line-up’s being announced, a lot of Manchester United fans wanted Garnacho to be in the starting XI due to the injuries to forwards Anthony Martial and Antony. However, Erik ten Hag chose to use him as an impact substitute instead of a starter, opting to play Bruno Fernandes out of position as a right-winger, which he has done a few times this season.

With Garnacho in tears, it was Marcus Rashford who came over and helped pick up his stricken teammate off of the ground and consoled him, to which he has received a lot of praise from fans as being a future captain of Manchester United for this classy display.

Although there was also one moment from the Englishman that didn't go down too well with United fans...

What did Garnacho post on social media?

After the game, Garnacho took to social media to address the fans in a truly heartbreaking post.

“I am broken. People who know me know how obsessed I am with winning, and today it couldn’t be. Probably one of the hardest days of my life, we will get up again because we are Manchester United. As he said several times, God has taught me to never give up and promise the fans that we will bring joy to you very soon.”

This heartfelt post brought a lot of sympathy from fans, not only of Manchester United, but of football.

One Twitter user commented: “Small margins… Just a few inches off becoming a hero, shouldn’t be down to an 18-year-old to be the difference. Going to be a massive player next season,” alluding to the curling shot that beat Stefan Ortega and was inches away from finding the bottom corner of the net, which would have levelled the game up at 2-2 had it gone in.

Fans seemed to be in agreement that Garnacho was one of the few United players that left their all out on the pitch, with criticism for the lack of effort from the majority of others.

One Twitter user commented that Garnacho was “the only forward player to really show that he wanted it today. He can hold his head high,” while another Twitter fan agreed and added, “one of a handful of our attackers that has a fighting spirit.”

Garnacho’s breakout season showed that he has the potential to be a big player for Manchester United going forward as they look to strengthen in all areas and go one better next season. It appeared that the club agrees, as they signed him to a contract extension that runs until 2028.

Amassing 34 appearances this season, and likely would have been more had it not been for injury, he contributed six goals and six assists, but his impact on the field was much more than the statistics appear to show.

Manchester United fans recognise the quality they’ve got in Garnacho, and hope that next season he will be able to get more regular game time, and help elevate Erik ten Hag’s men to a new level to be able to compete with the best teams in Europe as they embark on a Champions League run, as well as looking to close the gap on their main rivals in the Premier League.