It was a moment which summed up his entire season in a microcosm as Manchester United edged past an outstanding Coventry City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
Slow, ponderous, tired. In the build-up to Sunday’s last-four clash between the Premier League giants and the team sitting eighth in the Championship, Erik ten Hag spoke out in support of the increasingly-under fire Casemiro.
But after being given the runaround by Haji Wright and Ellis Sims, part of a backline which turned a comfortable 3-0 leadinto a six-goal stalemate in the final 24 minutes of normal time, those phone calls from Saudi Arabia cannot come soon enough.
Casemiro, at least, was the first to step up in the penalty shoot-out. That, in itself, requires some semblance of cajones. It’s just a shame the actual spot kick was so dire, Casemiro seemingly attempting to take inspiration from Bernardo Silva against Real Madrid four days earlier and ending up equally red-faced as Brad Collins palmed away a penalty as weary and drowsy as the man who took it.
Erik ten Hag gets lucky as Manchester United reach FA Cup final
“It was about mentality in that moment. You have a plan and have full confidence so I told them to stick to the plan. I had confidence we would win the shootout,” Ten Hag tells the Manchester United website.
“Normally, Casemiro scores. We train (penalties) very well.”
Fortunately, the veteran midfielder’s Man United team mates were a little more clinical from 12 yards. If any player could be forgiven for letting emotion get the better of him – celebrating wildly as his own penalty hit the net – it was Rasmus Hojlund.
The Dane fizzed home the final spot-kick, firing his beloved Man United into a cup final meeting with bitter rivals Manchester City with Hojlund dreaming of silverware at the end of a difficult debut season at his boyhood club.
Onana, who also joined Man United in the summer of 2023, kept out Callum O’Hare and Ben Sheaf as he took his tally of penalty spots in a Red Devils shirt to three.
Final reunion with Man City awaits
“I am always calm. I focus and know my players can shoot penalties,” adds Ten Hag, who’s domestic cup record remains outstanding regardless of what else you might say about the man.
“I’m always confident Andre will catch, (at a) minimum, one. I was quite convinced. But when the first is a mishit (from Casemiro) then you never know.
“I want to win it. I’m sure we have a good chance to win this final, although we play the best team in the world. We do have a chance though. We showed that this season. This season has had many ups but also many downs.
“Winning the FA Cup doesn’t make it successful. We want to win more. We have been in three finals in two years, which is good, but we had a lot of setbacks this season. We’ve had a lot of injuries and hopefully those players can be back for the final.
“If we go with a squad who believe, then we have a chance to win a trophy.”