DIOGO DALOT WANTS THIS to be the last time Manchester United enter a cup final as the underdogs, writes Neil Custis.
And he believes with the help of new part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe it will be.
The Red Devils are in a repeat of last year’s FA Cup final which hated rivals Manchester City won convincingly despite the score being only 2-1.
Even those in red are not expecting anything other than a City victory again this time and probably with an even bigger margin of victory.
But Red Devils full-back Dalot said: “You shouldn’t be the underdog when you’re at Manchester United.
“We want to be the team in the future that everyone thinks is going to win automatically.
“So for me it gives me energy, because I don’t want to be in that position.
“I’ve been at this club for a while now and I want to feel that feeling of dominance in every game and in every competition we play, everywhere we go.”
The problem is that has not been the case for some time.
New 27.7per cent owner Ratcliffe and his team have come to Old Trafford to change that and Dalot believes they can.
He said: “They come ready to go. They come ready to look at what changes do they need to do to build the team and put the team back on top.
“They had amazing conversations with us, with players and staff. Everybody knows that they came here for actual change.
“To be honest, I’m really excited and hoping that in the near future that things might look a little bit different.”
That is for the future but for now you are talking about a team that has just finished the season in their lowest ever league position of eighth.
Plenty have taken much joy from the demise of a club that under Sir Alex Ferguson dominated the domestic landscape and, at times, Europe as well.
For 25-year-old Dalot that negativity towards them and the mocking from the blue side of the City makes him even more determined to upset the odds at Wembley and begin the rebuilding process.
He said: “For me personally, it gives me more energy.
“It gives me even more energy to want to win it.
“The energy inside Carrington has to be ‘Okay, if they think they’re going to win, let’s see if they’re going to do it’ and that’s the kind of push that I’m trying to give my team-mates.
“We’re trying to build up for this game this week and we’re going to go there with the right mentality.
“This is our game of the season. That’s the way we’re facing it, that’s the way we want to face it as well, and the way that we should face it.”
The thing is, facing the problem is one thing but solving it against a side like Manchester City is another.
So how will United do that?
Dalot said: “Obviously, you can talk about the tactical side of it but I think it comes a lot from your heart, from your head, to be able to be at your best level, be able to suffer – because there are going to be times when you have to suffer.
“And at the same time, when you have the ball, have the personality to play because you can play against City, you can have the ball against City.
“They are very good at counter-press but you can still find spaces and dominate the game and that’s what we should need to do on Saturday: without the ball, ready to suffer when we have to suffer and defend well, be compact, and when we have the ball try to hurt them in the spaces.”
Dalot watched on from the bench as an unused sub last year when City beat them.
Ilkay Gundogen had City ahead with the quickest goal in Cup Final history after 13 seconds.
Bruno Fernandes levelled things up from the penalty spot after 33 minutes before Gundogan struck again with what proved to be the winner shortly after half-time.
Dalot said: “We finished the game with that feeling of ‘we could have won it’ actually and to be so close to winning it and not doing it…this season we have another opportunity.
“We’re playing a great team, but with a final, as we used to say in my country ‘finals are there to win and not to just play in’ so we just want to win it.
“It’s going to be a top game for us and we’re looking forward to it.”
While City may carry the weight of expectation in this 143rd FA Cup Final, it should not be just seen as a free hit for United. It never is with a club of their size.
Dalot said: “There’s always pressure at this club, no matter if you’re having a great season or a season that’s not so good. The pressure will always be there and it’s a final.
“These fans are hungry for trophies, the club is hungry for trophies, we’re hungry for trophies, so we have an opportunity and the pressure will always be high.”
Dalot is now in his sixth year at the club.
His stay looked like it might be temporary when he was loaned out to Inter Milan in 2020-21.
But he returned and rebuilt and has just been name the club’s Players’ Player of the Season.
It is that sort of fight which every United player will need if they want to be top dog again and not just underdog.
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