the times | Monday May 23 2022 2GG 13
thegame
Crystal Palace
Zaha 37^1RATINGS
Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): V Guaita 7 — N Clyne 7,
J Ward 7, Andersen 6, T Mitchell 6 — W Hughes 5
(J McArthur 83min) — J Schlupp 5 —
J Rak-Sakyi 6 (C Kouyate 67, 5), C Gallagher 6,
W Zaha 8 — O Édouard 7 (E Ezi 79). Booked
Hughes, Édouard.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): D de Gea 6 —
D Dalot 5 (A Garnacho 79), V Lindelof 5,
H Maguire 5, A Telles 6 — S McTominay 6, Fred 6
(S Shoretire 75) — A Elanga 7, B Fernandez 6,
H Mejbri 6 (J Mata 62, 5) — E Cavani 5. Booked
Mejbri, Fernandes, Dalot, Lindelof.
Referee M Atkinson.Manchester Utd 0
decision so players, staff and fans can
be safe going to watch football
matches.”
Vicente Guaita saved well from
Hannibal Mejbri who was then
immediately substituted. A header
from Scott McTominay was far too
easy for Guaita to deal with and
indeed the United midfielder looked
surprised by how little his effort,
while unmarked, troubled the Palace
goalkeeper. Still, the visitors had
begun to apply sustained pressure.
The travelling supporters cheered
up when they heard Manchester City
had taken the lead against Villa. For
Liverpool to secure the Quadruple
while their own club is in such
turmoil would have been
unconscionable, but it is not top of
Ten Hag’s worries.
The Europa Conference League
beckoned briefly for a club too big
really to have such a thing on their
radar until West Ham lost control on
the south coast.
“The best thing that happened
today,” De Gea said, “is the season has
finished.”De Gea: I’m just glad it’s all over
emphasised how loved he is by
everyone connected to the club as
they cross their fingers that Chelsea
will loan him back to Palace.
Vieira’s reaction to an Everton fan’s
provocation during the pitch invasion
at Goodison Park on Thursday is still
being investigated by the FA.
“I will participate with the FA and
talk about the incident and give my
opinion and my view,” the Palace
manager said. “It is not about just that
incident. It is about all the incidents
and I think it [has] happened too
often in the past couple of weeks and
we need to reflect on that and make aIn the 37th minute, Zaha took
matters into his own hands, breezing
past Victor Lindelof and Diogo Dalot
to slot the ball past a befuddled De
Gea. Zaha of course spent two
unhappy years at United where he
felt unloved. In south London he is
adored and a more effective, more
confident player as a consequence. If
Ten Hag were thinking that he would
quite like to poach him, that boat
sailed a while ago.
Conor Gallagher shot wide and
somewhat tiredly which was no great
surprise given his high energy levels
all season and Patrick VieiraThe Man in the White Suit is an Ealing
Studios comedy and was not,
probably, the inspiration for the outfit
worn by Erik ten Hag as he took his
seat at Selhurst Park. For many the
slow decline of Manchester United is
a farce but it is Ten Hag’s job to
rebuild and instil a sense of grandeur
that was so lacking at Selhurst Park
and has been for much of the
campaign.
United can look forward to
competing in the Europa League next
season thanks to West Ham United’s
defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion but
it will have offered the new
management team only a small
crumb of comfort.
Ten Hag, the former Ajax manager,
starts his new role at United this
morning and so sat in the stands to
assess at first hand the task that lies
ahead. He spent a good deal of time
with his arms folded, trying, one
assumes, not to appear too
unimpressed. Later, Ralf Rangnick, in
charge for the last time before moving
to a consultancy role at Old Trafford,
spoke about building a team worthy
of being labelled a team. He was so
downbeat, it was like being told a
pudding on MasterChef was too
lacking in flavour to deserve to be
called a pudding. Rangnick corrected
himself when calling his experience
guiding the team “sweet-bitter”,
rather than bitter-sweet, but bitter-
bitter might sum it all up better.
Apart from Edinson Cavani, who
was playing his last game and selected
due to Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury, all
the players Rangnick chose to start
were those who will be staying next
season. This was very thoughtful of
the German. It meant Ten Hag would
be monitoring players worth watching
in terms of his enormous to-do list.
Ten Hag could have gone
snorkelling with turtles or lazed on a
tropical seashore or visited the
museums of Florence. Instead, the 52-
year-old opted to turn up to his new
job early and watch this curious
encounter. The standard was not high
and yet his new club could not find a
way to exploit the tiredness at the
heart of the Palace display.
United did create openings but
lacked a killer instinct. On the break
Anthony Elanga was too pacey for
the Palace defence down the right
flank and his cross looked destined
for the scampering Bruno Fernandes,
but he timed his arrival poorly and
slid in ineffectually.
It was a move that at least served to
liven up a dull contest and Wilfried
Zaha immediately tested David de
Gea. Ten Hag crossed his arms ever
tighter and his gaze was steely and
arguably incredulous.ALYSON RUDD
STEVEN PASTON/PA32
Man Utd failed to
record a positive goal
difference (0) for first
time in 32 years — it
was -1 in 1989-90Zaha, once of
United, fires in
the only goal of
the game at
Selhurst Park
where the size
of the task
confronting Ten
Hag, far left,
became even
more evidentAC Milan won their first Serie A title
in 11 years yesterday thanks to a 3-0
win at Sassuolo with the former
Chelsea and Arsenal striker Olivier
Giroud scoring twice.
Needing just a point to pip local
rivals Inter Milan to the Scudetto,
Milan soon took control with Giroud
putting them ahead after 17 minutes
and then grabbing a second
15 minutes later. Franck Kessié
effectively wrapped up the win and
the title four minutes later to the
delight of the army of away fans at
the Mapei Stadium. All three goals
were set up by the Portuguese winger
Rafael Leão, 22, who was Serie A’s
player of the season.
“I’m a different player now, with
more maturity, with more confidence
and with the responsibility of making
the difference,” he said. “That’s what I
ALBERTO LINGRIA/REUTERSGiroud strikes twice to take Milan to their first Scudetto in 11 years
did today, what was important was to
win the Scudetto.”
Giroud, now 35, was one of a
number of figures familiar to British
football fans to play key roles in
Milan’s triumph. The former Chelsea
centre back Fikayo Tomori, 24, joined
in January 2021 before making the
move permanent last summer and
has had a superb season at the heart
of Milan’s defence, while the former
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis
has held the same role with
Milan since 2018. Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, whose long
career included a couple of
seasons at Manchester
United, also played a
significant part.
“This is the most satisfying of
my titles,” Ibrahimovic, who was
with Milan when they last won the
title, said. “We worked hard, made
sacrifices, suffered. And when you
can do that, everything is
possible. It’s the most satisfying.”Ibrahimovic, 40, treats himself to a cigar while leading the
celebrations for what he called “the most satisying of my titles”
while Tomori, left, celebrates with the trophy at SassuoloEUROPEAN ROUND-UP
MATT TENCH
BALOTELLI SCORES FIVE
Mario Balotelli scored five goals for
Adana Demirspor on the final day of
the Turkish Super Lig season
yesterday. The former Manchester
City and Liverpool striker, now 31,
scored his first goal in the
33rd minute and his fifth in the 70th
in a 7-0 drubbing of relegated side
Goztepe. One of his goals, below,
included seven stepovers before he
found the net with a “rabona”.