Man Utd staff shocked by Carabao Cup attendance before Solskjaer explanation

Manchester United staff who recently joined the club weren't expecting such a high attendance for their Carabao Cup game against West Ham.

Old Trafford was nearly at its close to 76,000 capacity for the third-round cup tie against the Hammers with over 72,000 fans in the crowd on Wednesday evening.

According to the MEN, Red Devils officials claim they sold the most tickets to home fans ever in the history of the competition which dates back to 1960.

But new club staff were expecting nearer half of that amount to turn up until manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explained that wouldn't be the case.

"We have some new coaches at the club who were wondering if we might get 40,000 people turning up in the Carabao Cup," Solskjaer said.

"We explained to them that it would virtually be full and sure enough the place was packed and the atmosphere was exceptional."

The attendance was United's largest in the League Cup since they beat rivals Man City in the fourth round of the competition in 2016, as per the club.

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They've failed to get that far in this season's version after David Moyes got one over on his old side with a 1-0 victory.

Manuel Lanzini's strike inside the opening 10 minutes of the match was enough to send West Ham through to the next round, where they will host United's neighbours Man City.

The Hammers reportedly only took 30% of their allocation of tickets for the United match which allowed a lot more home fans to attend the fixture.

Old Trafford was the place to be when Cristiano Ronaldo made his highly-anticipated return earlier this month and this was just the first home match since then.

Demand for tickets has risen as a result and the five-time Ballon d'Or winner would have been a contributing factor in the high attendance.

Indeed, fans with signs dedicated to Ronaldo were spotted in the crowd, but they were left disappointed as the 36-year-old was rested completely for the game.

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