Another Golden Opportunity, United!

If there's one thing this season's Carabao Cup confirmed, it is this: cup competitions are more or less like raffle draws. In most cases, the most qualified team doesn't win because of external influences they have no control over. To buttress this point, Real Madrid simply has no right to win last season's Champions League. You can continue to deceive yourself by waxing lyrical about the superior experience that Madrid squad has got or how they are wired to weather adversity and come out on top because of their incredible mental strength. One thing I know is that if last season was to repeat itself Madrid won't come from two goals down to get past PSG, not to talk of staging unbelievable comebacks against Chelsea and Manchester City. I am not a firm believer in the concept of luck, but I do believe in happenstance.

Manchester United are in the semi-finals of this season's Carabao Cup. They play Nottingham Forest over two legs for a place in the final. With Newcastle and Southampton left in the tournament this looks like a huge opportunity for the success-starved United to finally end their six-year trophy drought. They've played just three games to get to this position, against Aston Villa, Burnley and Charlton. All three games were played at Old Trafford against a struggling Premier League, a Championship and a League One team. That's how skewed cup competitions can be. The draws can be extremely harsh or extremely favourable. Other top teams like Chelsea and Liverpool have already been eliminated. They were unlucky enough to get paired with Manchester City at the Etihad. Manchester United would've experienced the same fate if they were paired to play Manchester City at the Etihad at some point in the tournament too.

Despite missing out on silverware in the last few years, Manchester United have found themselves close to ending that drought on a couple of occasions. They lost a final and at least three semifinal berths under Solksjær. However, this may be the season they finally end that drought. The expected projection for the Carabao Cup final will be a battle with the impressive Newcastle, another team that is desperate to end decades of trophy drought. A season that started with two losses and a lot of media criticism may end with a trophy and Champions League qualification. That will make this season a successful one for United. That will serve as the springboard for better performances and continued ascension back to the top of English football ladder they've never experienced in 10 years.

Carabao Cup Semi-finals
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United
Southampton vs Newcastle United

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