Alejandro Garnacho stole the show on Thursday evening when Manchester United sealed a victory against Real Sociedad in the UEFA Europa League, as reported by the Guardian.
First-half
Real Sociedad started on the front-foot with high pressing in a bid to nullify Manchester United game plan of building up from the back.
In the first five minutes the Spanish club created a glorious opportunity when Carlo Fernandes hit the side netting but he was offside when shown on replay.
Manchester United constantly lost possession whilst the hosts looked more tidy on the ball.
Garnacho opened the scoresheet on the seventeenth minute to make it 1-0 to the visitors, thanks to a world-class pass by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Red Devils kept more possession in the aftermath of their opening goal. Linsadro Martinez kept Real Sociedad quite during the proceedings.
Three minutes before half-time Ronaldo missed a glorious opportunity when he chipped the ball over the post following a horrendous defensive error from the home side.
David de Gea made an impressive double save to deny the hosts an equalizer on the stroke of half-time. The Spaniard’s heroics were evident against West Ham United as previously reported by United Radar.
Second-half
Real Sociedad largely dominated the second-half as the home crowd rose to the occasion. On the other hand, the visitors hardly created clear cut chances.
On the 68th minute, the hosts where awarded a free-kick in a promising position. However, Fernandes headed over the bar from a cross by Robert Navarro.
Alexander Sorloth scuffed a shot well wide as Real Sociedad continued to put pressure on the visitors.
Erik ten Hag made a bizarre substitution when Harry Maguire was introduced as a center-forward. The Dutchman was desperate to get a second goal.
The score finished at 1-0 to Manchester United but this was not enough to win Group E.
Alejandro Garnacho masterclass
Garnacho had a decent performance more so when he strucked the roof of the net. The young star ran to the corner flag, held his chest and looked to the heavens.
The 18-year-old surpassed George Best to become the youngest non-English footballer to score on a major European competition.
Ten Had praised the Argentine international during his post-match interview. Manchester Evening News quoted the remarks of the boss:
“We win, a clean sheet, a positive we have extra options in the frontline with Garnacho.”
Ten Hag added: “He’s developing very well. I hope he can keep that attitude like now.”
“When he is reliable, you see he is a threat, he can create, he can give final passes and he can score goals, so it’s a good process.”
Manchester United fail to win Group E
The Goal noted that Manchester United was required to win by a two goals margin or more to finish the group on top.
Similarly to Bruno, the boss had positives despite failure to top Group E. According to the official website of Manchester United, ten Hag said:
“We wanted to win today with two goals’ difference, to be number one. That was the aim, we didn’t succeed but after the winter, we are still there to win the Europa League and that is always but we have to go from round to round. We have to focus on that next round and that is what we will do.”
This means that the English giants will be drawn with one of the teams that dropped from the UEFA Champions League for plays-off.
This includes, amongst others, Ajax, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Salzburg, Juventus, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk and Sporting CP.
