FANS BACK AT OLD TRAFFORD
From the first trickle of fans coming in when Old Trafford finally opened its turnstiles again to the final whistle, it was a special occasion at the stadium.
For the first time in 436 days the Theatre of Dreams was a raucous place again. It may have only been 10,000 in a cavernous 75,000-capacity arena, but those lucky enough to be present made enough noise for the absent fans as football began to get back to some form of normality.
Instead of hearing the shouts from the benches and dugouts, on-the-field instructions and all that behind-closed-doors noise we’ve had to get used to since March 8 2020, it was the well-known, familiar songs, ooh and aahs that echoed around the ground.
It was great to hear and a signal that good times are back again.
A DISAPPOINTING HOME FINALE
“We want to go into next Wednesday’s Europa League final full of confidence and momentum and a strong performance tonight can be a big step towards that,” said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in United Review.
He got that to a certain extent, as his side adjusted to the return of fans and put in a high-tempo display, albeit against already-relegated Fulham.
The ease of the equaliser from Fulham’s Joe Bryan after 75 minutes, though, will be a concern for Ole and his staff ahead of the Europa League final next week.
However, before the last league match of the season on Sunday, this was a relatively decent way to end the Old Trafford programme after tasting successive defeats last week here against Leicester City and Liverpool. A win would have been preferable, but at least it ended that losing sequence and put some confidence back in the bank.
