Man United's brilliant gesture for departing Wenger

Manchester United fans showed their class with a wonderful gesture for departing Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

As Wenger walked out on the Old Trafford pitch for one last time on Sunday, he received a standing ovation from Manchester United supporters who have only displayed their vitriol for him over the last 22 years.

Not only was the reception from the United fans a gracious one, but the felicitation from the club, as Sir Alex Ferguson presented Wenger with a memento, with a smiling Jose Mourinho looking on, was equally decorous.

“I am thankful to Manchester United because they had a nice gesture. It is the first time I get a trophy before a game. It is very classy from them,” Wenger offered after the game, jokingly adding, “When you’re not a danger any more, people love you.”

Wenger’s final match at Old Trafford as Arsenal manager ended in defeat as a stoppage-time header from substitute Marouane Fellaini earned United a 2-1 win.

Paul Pogba had given United a 16th-minute lead before Henrikh Mkhitaryan, signed from United in January, brought Arsenal level, six minutes after the interval.

With a trip to Madrid to face Atletico on Thursday in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final, poised at 1-1, Wenger rang the changes, bringing in several fringe players and handing a debut to 21-year-old Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos.

It was the youngest side put out for a Premier League game by Wenger in nearly seven years but with the Europa League offering the only chance of Champions League football for his sixth-placed team, it was an understandable choice.

With no Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey or Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal were relying on their younger players and there were glimpses of promise.

For Wenger, there was satisfaction in seeing his young players compete against one of the top sides.

“It was unfortunate because we had a positive performance but we paid for the fatigue in the final 20 minutes from players who are not used to it. They did very well for the most part. It is unfortunate that they could not get the reward for that,” he said.

with agencies