Brazilian media have confirmed Casemiro was not injured, signs point towards an issue with the manager | OneFootball

Manchester United secured a famous 2-1 win against fierce cross-town rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday. In the process, the Red Devils took revenge for what had happened in the final of the same competition last year.

The goals came from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, two of the young shining lights this season as manager Erik ten Hag’s gameplan worked a treat.

Unlike what happened during the Premier League season, the 20-time English league champions defended deep and narrow, hardly allowing any space for Pep Guardiola’s team to play through.

For once, the Dutchman had the option of playing Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez at the back and the duo certainly delivered. He also took the brave call of starting Sofyan Amrabat as the defensive midfielder.

Casemiro not part of the matchday squad

The Moroccan was error-prone in the last league game of the season against Brighton and many had called for Casemiro to start in his stead.

But news broke that the manager was contemplating dropping the Brazilian, who has not enjoyed the best of seasons this term. He has made himself available but his displays, both in his usual position and as centre-back have left a lot to be desired.

The former Real Madrid superstar has suffered a spate of injuries which seem to have slowed him down while the former Ajax coach’s tactics have also not suited the 32-year-old.

Casemiro has struggled while tracking back and has made quite a few errors with and without the ball, especially with his rash sliding tackles all across the pitch.

Ten Hag announced that the five-time Champions League winner was injured and hence had to left out of the matchday squad. But as per journalist Joao Castelo-Branco of ESPN Brasil, Casemiro was not injured.

“Ten Hag said before the game that Casemiro was not in the starting lineup because he was not 100%. The information we had is that this is not true.

“Then, during the warm-up, Casemiro informed the coach that he was injured on the Wembley pitch,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

There was some confusion as the hard copies journalists got at Wembley mentioned the Brazil international as a substitute but the official team list put up by the club on social media did not have his name.

Brazilian was not injured

This seems to indicate that some issues cropped up between the midfielder and his manager. Casemiro might not have been too enthused with the idea of starting a final from the bench and hence opted out of the squad as a whole.

The pair were not seen talking or smiling after the win with only a curt handshake seen between the pair. Usually Casemiro is much more jubilant, especially when emerging victorious. He was quite downbeat during the post-match scenes.

If that is the case, it could signal the end of the veteran star. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is not the biggest fan of the amount spent to bring him in and his performances have certainly not justified his massive wages.

Saudi Arabia are said to be lurking. If United can recoup close to half of what they paid, they are likely to sell. Maybe they now have got one more reason to go through with this plan after all.

Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.