United blamed for clash in tunnel
JOSE MOURINHO’S players were blamed for sparking an ugly clash in the tunnel after a stormy ending to Manchester United’s 600th Premier League victory which maintained their chase for a top-four finish.
United’s hopes of Champions League qualification remain on track after a 3-1 win at Middlesbrough, which ended with rival players separated by security staff when punches were thrown and Boro skipper Ben Gibson and United’s Ashley Young were restrained by teammates as tempers flared.
Mourinho refused to comment but Boro’s caretaker manager Steve Agnew insisted his players were reacting to provocation after an injury-time bust-up when United defender Eric Bailly and Boro sub Rudy Gestede initially appeared to bite each other before replays showed the pair had merely been involved in a heated clinch.
“I’m picking up there’s something gone on in the tunnel,” Agnew said. “That many bodies were there, it was hard to tell with all the pushing and shoving. What triggered it off I don’t know.
“I’ve got a group of very, very well behaved players so I can assure you it wouldn’t be one of ours. What I would say is it would have been a reaction because of the spirit they have.”
United defender Phil Jones said: “When emotions are high these things happen but it was something and nothing.”
AT LONG last Boro’s supporters saw their team get their teeth into an opponent – but Rudy Gestede was forced to insist there was no way he had taken the notion literally.
Tempers boiled over as Jose Mourinho’s side kept their spirited hosts at arm’s length to strengthen United’s hopes of a top-four finish.
It was United’s 18th game unbeaten in the league and moved them up to fifth as manager Mourinho exacted a revenge of sorts for his former lieutenant Aitor Karanka, sacked as boss at the Riverside three days earlier.
But there were ugly scenes in the aftermath of this gritty win, with much of the late discord coming in the wake of a clash between Gestede and United defender Eric Bailly.
Initially it appeared that each had bitten the other, but the encounter turned out to be rather less sinister than an unwanted return to the dark days when the uncontrollable incisors of Luis Suarez struck fear into Premier League opponents. Boro skipper Ben Gibson and United’s Ashley Young had to be restrained by team-mates in the tunnel as there were attempts at retribution, but Gestede was keen to defuse the situation.
“We had a few words together – it was nothing major,” the forward insisted of his clash with Bailly after Gestede had scored his side’s first league goal since the end of January.
“He gave me a hug and a kiss, that’s it. I didn’t feel anything. Ben thought he bit me, so that’s why he reacted like he did.
“But I told him just now we were just talking, there was no problem.”
While the visitors maintained their impressive run with a display underlying the growing mental strength Mourinho has instilled in his side, Boro at least had the consolation of ending their lengthy goal drought as Gestede pounced on a mistake by Chris Smalling to halve the arrears from close range with 13 minutes remaining.
Hopes of salvaging an unlikely draw to chip away at the fivepoint gap to safety faced by a Boro side currently second from bottom were extinguished by Victor Valdes’ unfortunate stoppage-time slip which allowed Antonio Valencia to make it 3-1 by walking the ball into an unguarded net.
“It’s a big win that keeps us alive in the competition for fourth place,” Mourinho said.
Given their remaining presence in the Europa League, his side retain two potential avenues to next season’s Champions League.
“Do I prefer to qualify for the Champions League by finishing fourth or winning Europa League? I prefer Europa League,” Mourinho added.
“There’s a prestige to winning a trophy.”
United were last beaten in the league at the end of October and it is an impressive record which rarely looked under threat once they took a deserved 30thminute lead through Marouane Fellaini. The Belgium midfielder had scored his previous league goal 15 months ago but had little difficulty in ending that barren run with his third of this season in all campaigns.
Young cut in from the left to send over a cross to the far post and as Valdes and former United defender Fabio hesitated, Fellaini was left with the simple task of heading the ball into an unguarded net from close range.
Valdes kept his side in the contest, the United old boy denying Marcus Rashford’s close-range effort and the follow-up from Valencia.
Jesse Lingard put a more realistic slant on the score when, just after the hour, he was allowed to advance from halfway to send a stunning 20-yard effort into the top corner.
“To push Manchester United all the way is something I was really pleased with,” said Steve Agnew, Karanka’s former assistant who is now in the hot seat as Middlesbrough caretaker boss.
He has had no assurances as to the length of his temporary tenure beyond the team’s next game at Swansea at the start of next month.
“It’s a display that gives us hope for the future and I’ve seen enough of these players to know we’re more than capable of winning games,” Agnew added.
MIDDLESBROUGH (4-2-3-1): Valdes 6; Barragan 5, Gibson 5, Bernardo 3, Fabio 6; Clayton 6, Leadbitter 6 (Gestede 67, 7); Downing 5, De Roon 5, Ramirez 5 (Traore 68, 5); Negredo 5. Booked: Clayton. Goal: Gestede 77. NEXT UP: Swansea (a), Apr 2 PL.
MAN UTD (3-4-3): De Gea 7; Jones 6, Smalling 6, Bailly 7; Valencia 7, Carrick 7, Fellaini 7, Young 6; Mata 7 (Rojo 69, 6), Rashford 7 (Darmian 90), Lingard 7 (Martial 80). Booked: Jones. Goals: Fellaini 30, Lingard 62, Valencia 90. NEXT UP: West Brom (h), Apr 1 PL.
Referee: J Moss (W Yorkshire).