Teenager Mason rescues United
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJA ER need not have worried about putting too much pressure on young shoulders. One of the best finishers he has ever seen, declared the Manchester United manager on the eve of this game.
And when the moment came for Mason Greenwood to justify the hype, he delivered.
United were running out of ideas and opportunities against a stubborn Astana when Greenwood received the ball on the right 73 minutes into his first European start.
Solskjaer, more than anyone, appreciated what happened next. The arrogance to go for goal when other options were available. The audacious skill. The cold- eyed execution. The 17-year-old teased Dorin Rotariu with a little shimmy before sweeping past his opponent and casually guiding the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Nenad Eric.
Old Trafford rose to acclaim a new hero having honoured him with a new song. ‘Mason Greenwood, dynamite, he scores them with his left and he scores them with his right,’ they sang to the tune of David Bowie’s Star Man — hardly expecting to be proved right so quickly.
They had seen Greenwood break through on the club’s summer tour by scoring against Inter Milan and Leeds, but this was the real thing; his first official goal for United, and the first of many, you can be sure of that. For Solskjaer, it offers justification for the decision to let Romelu Lukaku leave for Inter this summer.
‘It was the right decision for the club and for him,’ said the United boss. ‘He (Greenwood) is going to be important for us this season. He’s not played a lot so far, but he’ll get minutes.
‘It’s natural for him to score goals. Get him inside the box and you know something is going to happen. He can go inside or outside, and it was a great finish. He showed glimpses of what he can become.’
A more sobering thought for Solskjaer was United’s failure to break down limited opponents, necessitating Greenwood’s heroics. True, this was a muchchanged team — Axel Tuanzebe, Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong also made full European debuts while Sergio Romero, Fred and Marcos Rojo were given rare starts — but they should have beaten Astana more comfortably.
Nothing sums up United’s fall from grace quite like Thursday night football against the champions of Kazakhstan. Inevitably, there were plenty of empty seats and only 230 of them were filled by Astana fans, many of whom made the 6,000-mile round trip from Kazakhstan.
‘Borat, Borat give us a song,’ sang the United supporters, but the visitors looked like having the last laugh until Greenwood struck. United were denied by a combination of bad luck and bad finishing — and some very good goalkeeping.
Fred hit the bar with a speculative 25-yard effort and Astana keeper Eric touched substitute Jesse Lingard’s shot against a post in the second half before Diogo Dalot turned the loose ball over an empty goal.
No one will be more relieved over Greenwood’s winner than Marcus Rashford. The England striker started in a central role but was guilty of three glaring misses before half-time.
‘You wonder if it’s going to be one of those nights when you get punished for being sloppy,’ said Solskjaer. United nearly were.