Manchester United sealed a victory over Burnley to progress to the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup, courtesy to goals by Christian Eriksen and Marcus Rashford.
The English giants returned to their home turf for the first time since mid November. A victory was expected from the hosts for a perfect projected restart.
First-half
The visitors had a bright start in the opening nine minutes when Ashley Barns headed well wide following a pass from Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson, talkSPORT noted.
On the ninth minute, Alejandro Garnacho was presented with a glorious chance as a result of a horrendous mistake from Harwood-Bellis who gave the ball away. The goalkeeper came to the rescue to keep the scoreline intact.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka played a volley cross to Christian Eriksen and the Danish international strucked home to give the hosts the lead.
Manuel Benson constantly showed threat on the right flank. The young star played a long range effort, only for Martin Dubravka to make a comfortable save.
Dubravka had some nervy moments, including his attempt to punch the ball. He missed the ball and deflected it straight into the goal. Luckily, Carlo Casemiro cleared the ball from the goal line.
Two minutes later, Martin was guilty with yet another horrendous mistake. He misjudged a back pass but he managed to stop the ball from rolling over the line.
Manchester United dominated majority of the ball and finished the first-half on 1-0, thanks to a goal by Eriksen.
Second-half
The home side continued where they left off. On the 57th minute, Rashford ran all the way and skipped Burnley defence to double the lead.
Darko Churlinov missed a big chance for Burnley after receiving a quality pass from Gudmundsson. Two minutes later, Barns squandered yet another opportunity from close range.
On the 84th minute, Antony Santos skipped Ian Maatsen. He strucked a shot from the eighteen area but his effort was saved by the goalkeeper.
On stoppage time, Dubravka made another error when he was caught on the ball in the box. However, the visitors failed to take advantage.
The match finished at 2-0 to Manchester United.
Manchester United progress to quarter finals
A win at Old Trafford meant that Manchester United progressed to the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup.
They join Leicester City, Southampton, Newcastle United, Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Charlton who have already qualified.
Manchester City will go head-to-head with Liverpool on Thursday evening at the Etihad Stadium as the last match of the round of 16. Quarter finals draw will take place shortly after the match at the Etihad.
Rashford is crowned man of the match on two consecutive games
Rashford was crowned man of the match shortly after full-time whistle. He was previously named man of the match during a 4-2 victory over Aston Villa, United Radar understands.
Manchester Evening News quoted the remarks of Erik ten Hag on Rashford. The Dutchman said: “I think he invested a lot once again with a lot of runs behind the defending line and he scored a great goal in the dribble, great finish.”
Ten Hag added: “I think he is in great form and of course I hope he can keep his focus and this performance.”
“I think he is on a very good level, his performances are improving a lot from game to game. He’s a continued threat but also many other games this season he’s scored a lot of goals and does a lot of defending work.”
“So I’m really happy with his performances. I hope and expect him to keep going with his performance level.”
