Man United close in on Champions League at Chelsea
Talk of the Devils: The Athletic FC's Manchester United show
The Athletic
4.6 • 771 Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's almost done, then. United defied a defensive *crisis at Stamford Bridge to keep their first clean sheet since February and Matheus Cunha delivered the killer blow to see off Chelsea... we don't even need to tell you who provided the assist.
Ayden Heaven was, eventually, partnered by Noussair Mazraoui at centre half and, with Luke Shaw and the returning Diogo Dalot either side (and Kobbie in front), they looked fairly comfortable despite a slightly rocky start. Chelsea had the ball and the territory but losing Estevao was a blow and Alejandro Garnacho struggled in his place.
All that matters in the end is that two more wins are needed to guarantee Champions League football next season, Bruno is on course for records and awards, and Michael Carrick has settled the nerves again.
Good news from Old Trafford as well, where the U18s set up a Manchester derby FA Youth Cup final by beating Crystal Palace with a goal from JJ Gabriel and an extra-time winner from Chido Obi.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic F.C. |
| 0:20.8 | This is Talk of the Devils, the Athletic Show, dedicated to Manchester United. |
| 0:24.8 | Coming up today, United win again, this time at Chelsea, to take a huge step towards the Champions League. |
| 0:30.1 | We'll have all the details of that win at Stamford Bridge. |
| 0:33.0 | Who needs centrebacks? |
| 0:34.7 | Yeah, a bit of an interesting situation that for Michael Carrick to navigate. We speak about that And the young Reds are also in the FA Youth Cup final Again, we'll find out how they managed to do that Later on in the show. But Laurie and Carla here in the studio Andy's joining us from home Everyone's been down in London apart from me So I hope you all all enjoyed your trip. And Manchester United came back with three points. |
| 0:56.1 | That's the headline, isn't it, Laurie? |
| 0:57.6 | That's the big headline, yeah. |
| 0:58.7 | I mean, obviously, Michael Carrick's status was, I guess, being debated right before that game |
| 1:04.9 | after the defeat to Leeds. |
| 1:07.2 | Manchester United's own position in the Champions League hunt was up in the air |
| 1:11.2 | if they'd have lost to Chelsea instead it's a victory |
| 1:14.3 | it feels comfortable now for the Champions League 10 points ahead with five games to go |
| 1:19.1 | I'm saying they're on the brink there really in terms of I think it's two more wins they need |
| 1:23.2 | mathematically to make it the case so huge win in circumstances, especially to get a clean sheet with all those |
| 1:30.3 | central defenders being out, even more of a boost for United in their sort of psychology, |
| 1:35.5 | I suppose, going into the final weeks. |
| 1:37.3 | Carrick responded well, I think, in terms of the tweaks that he made. |
| 1:40.5 | Yeah, they obviously rode their look a little bit during the game, but I think actually |
| 1:44.0 | overall they were compact, resolute, and I think if they'd actually been better in certain counter-attack moments, they could have scored more. Now they didn't, so fine, but it's a 1-0 win away at Chelsea, Sanford Bridge, a difficult place for United Go to, as we discussed on the previous podcast, so a really positive outcome. We could nitpick at the performance, I'm sure it wasn't perfect, but Michael Carrick said |
| 2:03.7 | it after the game and I happened to agree with him that really it was just about getting |
| 2:07.1 | the result, it was just about making sure that you aren't giving Chelsea any hope. |
... |
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