Manchester United have done what great teams do in the space of four days

The winning habit

When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was making a habit of reaching cup semi-finals with Manchester United, he used to say that winning a trophy together could be the start of things for his side.

Solskjaer's problem was that they never did win anything and the foundations always looked flimsy. This time, you sense things might be different.

Raphael Varane reminisced this week about winning his first trophy at Real Madrid and how it changed things. Winning becomes a habit, the thrill of medals and celebrating on the pitch becomes an addiction.

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United's squad looked like this meant everything to them, even if it would probably have been fourth on their list of priorities at the start of the season. If Solskjaer was right, there might be more to follow this season.

This team will reach the start of March with four trophies still a possibility. The Premier League is an outside chance, but they have a favourable FA Cup fifth-round draw against West Ham and there is little to be fearful of in the Europa League now they've downed Barcelona.

The Erik ten Hag-inspired transformation of this club has been remarkable and it could yet be an unforgettable, golden season. The six-year trophy drought is over. The wait for the next one might barely stretch into three months.

Defensive grit

This cup final will be memorable for United because they won it and that is all that really matters on these occasions, but this was not a performance they will want to relive too often.

In the harshest of summations, you could say they played well for six minutes, in which time they killed the game off. They carried little threat until they scored and spent almost all of the second half on