Football
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Jose Mourinho bites his tongue after Man United struggle to see off Hull

Jose Mourinho could barely stifle his anger after Manchester United staggered into the EFL Cup final despite a 2-1 semifinal second-leg defeat at Hull.

United led 2-0 from the first leg at Old Trafford 16 days ago, but though Paul Pogba cancelled out Tom Huddlestone's first-half penalty, Oumar Niasse's first goal for Hull halted the visitors' 17-game unbeaten run.

It was unclear with what Mourinho was more annoyed -- United's inept display or referee Jon Moss' decision to award Hull a controversial 35th-minute penalty that handed them a way back into the tie.

"To speak about the performance, I have to speak about things I don't want to speak about because the game was totally under control -- the game was dead," said Mourinho, who moments earlier had cut short his postmatch TV interview after barely 30 seconds.

Mourinho was clearly at pains to avoid speaking his mind about the penalty, awarded when Hull defender Harry Maguire went to ground under the attention of Marcos Rojo.

"The game was what we wanted the game to be and something happened to open the game -- and then the game was open," he said, apparently referring to the penalty. "But we had more power and were the best team. We could have scored lots of goals in the first match."

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was denied by Hull goalkeeper David Marshall's superb one-handed save at the end of the first half and Rojo's second-half header hit the crossbar.

But relegation-threatened Hull, who out-fought their more illustrious opponents, had their fair share of limited chances as Niasse also hit the crossbar with a second-half header before crashing home an 85th-minute winner from David Meyler's cross.

"Like I said, the game was under control and we deserved to be in the final, so I congratulated my players," Mourinho added. "I don't want to analyse the performance too much.

"I don't want to speak about the performance or the penalty."

When told Mourinho's views on the penalty, Hull head coach Marco Silva laughed and said: "I understand what Mourinho tried to say.

"It's not the most important thing. The referee gave us the penalty. Maybe he saw something to give us the penalty."

Silva was delighted his side maintained their progression since he replaced Mike Phelan earlier this month.

"This will give confidence to my players," Silva said. "The last three games at home, we have won, and it's important to the players and the fans."

Hull have accepted bids of around £10 million from West Ham and Burnley for Robert Snodgrass, while Middlesbrough have also made an offer for the Scotland international, but Silva said the Hammers have the upper hand.

"I know the [West Ham] deal is close," he said. "It's possible in the next few hours. The player hasn't trained with the team and is not available after the club did this deal with West Ham, and we need to find solutions to strengthen our team."

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