Huddersfield 2 - Man Utd 1: Jose Mourinho's side suffer first defeat to brilliant Terriers

KING GEORGE VI had been dead for only five weeks. The reins of power were held by Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Josef Stalin.

Aaron MooyGETTY

Aaron Mooy fired home the opener for Huddersfield

It was March 1952. It was the last time Huddersfield beat Manchester United. Until today. Until one of the shock results of the season. 

Of any Premier League season, perhaps. Huddersfield finished last year with a negative goal difference in the Championship. They ended yesterday a goal better than United. They outran them. They outworked them. 

Huddersfield don’t have Jose Mourinho’s millions. They compensated with relentless graft. “They played with – everything, aggression, desire, motivation, sacrifice – and we didn’t,” the United boss admitted. 

Jurgen Klopp’s best man, Huddersfield boss David Wagner, got the better of Mourinho. Some of their fans were literally jumping for joy at the end. No wonder. It was a famous new day for a famous old club. 

“Today was extraordinary,” said Wagner. “It is a very, very proud moment.” 

It was 46 years since United’s last visit to Huddersfield. They won’t be in a rush to return. Red-hot favourites were wretched. Outsiders were outstanding. 

Huddersfield had scored only one goal in six games. They then mustered two in six minutes against the team with the best defensive record in the country. 

United had conceded to only one player in the league season. Then two Terriers struck in swift succession.

The man bought from Manchester City scored against United. It was created by the son of one of their 1990s greats. 

Tom Ince had embarked on a winding run and shot. David De Gea parried but Aaron Mooy, who started the move, completed it by fi ring in the rebound. That was surreal enough for Huddersfield. It got stranger still. 

Laurent Depoitre rounded De Gea and shot into the empty net. Victor Lindelof was partly at fault for the first. 

He was totally to blame for the second, ducking for no obvious reason when Jonas Lossl punted the ball forward. 

The £31.5million Swede had been limited to one minute of Premier League football. Then Phil Jones limped off, Lindelof was summoned and United struggled. 

“It would be unfair to point fi ngers at players for individual mistakes,” said Mourinho. 

JoseGETTY

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He thought everyone was to blame in the first half.

Ander Herrera agreed: “In the first 30 or 35 minutes, they were more passionate than us, more aggressive. We cannot accept that.” 

And Huddersfield made history in a historic fixture. 

The last time United’s Holy Trinity of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law scored in the same game was against Huddersfield.

Now Law did the halftime draw.How United could have done with the Scot in his prime.

Anthony Martial risked a red card. Juan Mata lost the ball for the first goal.

Mourinho sent for the cavalry at half-time, bringing on Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford.

The Englishman halved the deficit by heading in Romelu Lukaku’s cross but the Belgian went a third game without a goal. 

“We could have a second goal and a draw,” said Mourinho. “But it would have been an undeserved draw.”

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