Greenwood saves United from Astana shock
MANCHESTER: Teenager Mason Greenwood rescued a muchchanged Manchester United from an embarrassing start to their Europa League campaign with the only goal to beat Kazakh champions Astana 1-0 at Old Trafford on Thursday.
At just 17, Greenwood became the youngest goal-scorer for United in European competition with a composed finish under Nenad Eric 17 minutes from time. “We always know that in and around the box he is one of the best finishers we have got,” said United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Greenwood’s composure.
Victory justified Solskjaer’s decision to make nine changes from Saturday’s Premier League win over Leicester with a host of youngsters given their chance to impress. Greenwood was joined in the starting line-up by Angel Gomes, Axel Tuanzebe and Tahith Chong. “Today was a great opportunity for them,” added Solskjaer. “We made it hard for ourselves. Games like these, you want to make sure you win the game in the first 20 minutes and you can enjoy it. You c ould s ee s ome of our l ads needed games but it’s pleasing we got the three points.”
The visitors had travelled nearly 6,000km to the Theatre of Dreams and could have held out for a famous point thanks to Eric’s heroics in goal.
Brazilian midfielder Fred saw an early effort come back off the bar as United started strongly and Eric made two brilliant saves to deny Marcus Rashford.
Rashford made his name in similar circumstances during an injury crisis for Louis van Gaal in the Europa League in 2016 with a double against Danish club Midtjylland.
And Solskjaer i s hoping United’s failure to qualify for the Champions League can at least come to some good with the Norwegian keen to promote youngsters in Europe’s second tier competition this season.
Solskjaer has been glowing in his praise of Greenwood’s poise in front of goal and he repaid his manager’s faith by twisting and turning inside the area before slotting in at the near post to end Astana’s resistence.
POGBA OUT
Manchester United are still without injured trio Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw for Sunday’s Premier League trip to West Ham United, while Daniel James is a doubt, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.
Pogba picked up an ankle injury in a 1-1 draw with Southampton before the international break while Martial and Shaw not featured since United’s league defeat by Crystal Palace on August 24.
“Not really, no,” Solskjaer said when asked if Pogba and Martial would be fit for the weekend’s match.
“They’ve not been training yet so I don’t think so. (Luke) won’t be ready.
Welsh winger James, who has scored three goals in five league games this season, suffered a knock in a 1-0 win over Leicester City last weekend and was unavailable for Thursday’s Europa League victory over Kazakh side Astana.
“Daniel James? I don’t know,” Solskjaer added “He’s not trained the last few days. Hopefully, but not sure. We’ll have a recovery day with everyone tomorrow and we’ll see on Saturday.”