Luiz’s little shimmy fuels McTominay’s late winner
ERIK TEN HAG admitted Douglas Luiz’s shimmy celebration may have spurred his Manchester United players on to beat Aston Villa and close the gap in the top-four race. The Brazilian launched into his routine in front of the Holte End when he cancelled out Rasmus Hojlund’s opener in the second half. But it also appeared to be aimed at Raphael Varane, who held out his arms in protest. When Scott McTominay headed United’s winner in the 86th minute, Varane made a beeline for Luiz and the confrontation between the two players only ended when referee Robert Jones intervened. Former United favourite Rio Ferdinand poked fun at the Villa man on social media afterwards, posting a photo of Luiz doing his shimmy with the caption: ‘U ok?’ Ten Hag tried to be more diplomatic, but admitted the celebration may have inspired his players. ‘I don’t have an opinion about that,’ said the United manager. ‘I haven’t spoken to the players. Maybe it’s fuelling, I don’t know. ‘I don’t think it is important. It is about us, we have to think about our game, not the opposition.’ Ten Hag was frustrated United did not do more to close the game out after going ahead through Hojlund in the first half. ‘The way we did it, I liked it. I especially liked the first 20 minutes when we controlled the game. But once we scored we changed our mindset. For me, you must play on. ‘It was too much like a tennis match, we had problems in the counterattack. It was so open and it could go two ways, but we found the mentality and character to win the game.’ Villa boss Unai Emery was proud of his players, despite seeing them fall to a third straight home defeat. ‘We are playing against the mighty Manchester United, but we are being more consistent in matches,’ he said. ‘The result is tough for us and difficult to accept, but that is football. We played like we planned and we deserved more. ‘Even in the first half we were a little frustrated. When we equalised it was fantastic and we created the chances to score the second goal, but we didn’t do it.’