Skinner urges Man Utd to ‘go through hell’ in Women’s FA Cup final

LONDON: Manchester United manager Marc Skinner has challenged his Women´s FA Cup-holders to “go through hell” as they bid to deny Chelsea a domestic treble in Sunday´s final at Wembley.

Skinner´s side will be the underdogs when they face a Chelsea team who were unbeaten while retaining their Women´s Super League title and have also won the League Cup during French coach Sonia Bompastor´s first season in charge.

But United beat Chelsea in the semi-finals of last season´s FA Cup and Skinner believes his “rebels” can upset the odds again this weekend. “Results-wise, Chelsea are the best team and the hardest team to come up against,” Skinner said on Friday. “If you know anything about us, we are rebels and we don´t like just accepting this is the case.

“I am a rebel, my nature is rebellious so for me, it is about not accepting that just because they have the best resources, they have to be the best team on every occasion.”

He added: “When you set yourself up for that challenge and you know you will have to go through hell to get the victory, if you prepare for that, then I believe you can do something special.”

United finished two places and 16 points behind Chelsea, who dropped only six points all season, in the WSL. Chelsea´s position as the dominant force in the English women´s game was underlined when Serena Williams´ husband, Alexis Ohanian, purchased a 10 percent stake in the London club worth a reported £20 million ($26.5 million) earlier this week.

But Skinner said that puts extra pressure on Bompastor. “You are funding to win Champions League and go domestically unbeaten,” he said. “Their task becomes harder in my opinion because they are going from they´ve got to achieve that 0.5 percent, not one percent, it is even smaller. “For us what that does is, if you are a sports person, it just makes you compete better.