Ten Hag gives his opponent a bottle of wine

After helping Man Utd beat Newport County 4-2 in the fourth round of the FA Cup, coach Erik ten Hag gave his colleague Graham Coughlan a bottle of luxury wine chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Newport are a Welsh club playing in the fourth tier of English football, three divisions below Man Utd. Their stadium, Rodney Parade, has a capacity of just over 7,800 spectators, and was full when they played Man Utd. Many spectators stood on the balconies of houses around the stadium to watch the match without having to go inside.

According to the British newspaper Sportmail , the practice of coaches giving each other gifts after a match is a tradition reserved for special occasions. And in the first time Man Utd met Newport, Ten Hag, on behalf of the club, gave his colleague Coughlan a gift to show respect to his opponent. This is also the first time Ten Hag has carried out this tradition with an opposing coach since joining Man Utd in the summer of 2022.

Ten Hag gave Coughlan a drink after the FA Cup fourth round match on January 28. Screenshot — Ten Hag gave Coughlan a drink after the FA Cup fourth round match on January 28. *Screenshot*

After completing his media duties, Ten Hag stepped out onto the pitch – where Coughlan was taking questions from reporters – to briefly share his thoughts and present a bottle of red wine to the Newport manager. The Dutchman explained that Ferguson – who was known for carrying out a similar tradition when he was in charge of Man Utd – had helped choose the wine.

Ten Hag's gift was a bottle of Antinori Tignanello, which sells for more than $250 and is described as "one of the first red wines in the Chianti Classico region that does not use white grapes."

Ten Hag beamed, shaking Coughlan's hand and saying: "We have a little gift for you." After receiving the gift from the Man Utd coach, Coughlan joked: "That's great. But you know, I don't drink alcohol, I only drink Budweiser beer."

Ten Hag gives his opponent a bottle of wine — Ten Hag gives wine to coach Newport.

Ten Hag continued: "Really, Budweiser? American beer? But this is a very high quality wine chosen by Ferguson himself, so maybe your wife will like it." The 53-year-old coach ended the story by saying: "Try it, I think you will like it", and the two took a souvenir photo.

At Rodney Parade on January 28, Man Utd took a two-goal lead after 13 minutes thanks to Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo, before Newport levelled things up with goals from Bryn Morris and Will Evans. The Red Devils then scored two more goals through Antony and Rasmus Hojlund to seal a 4-2 win, avoiding a replay at Old Trafford. They will face either second-tier Bristol City or Nottingham Forest in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Hong Duy

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