SAMBA STARS’ Double delight for Casemiro
THERE was plenty of suspicion when Casemiro arrived at Manchester United for £70million from Real Madrid last summer – but now it’s definitely case closed. For the 30-year-old Brazilian is a born winner with all the traits of a United great.
And he took another big step towards Old Trafford’s Hall of Fame with two fabulous goals to keep Erik ten Hag and his stars fighting on four fronts as they reached the FA Cup fifth round.
Casemiro delivered another imperious display doing a brilliant job defensively, keeping United’s midfield machine ticking over, then adding the gloss with a couple of gems to deliver cup heartbreak to former United old boy and Reading boss Paul Ince.
Substitute Fred added a cheeky back-heel flick for the third before Amadou Mbengue headed home a 72nd-minute consolation to give Reading fans something to cheer.
There was precious little else to excite them on a night when Andy Carroll’s return to the big stage ended in a red card following a second yellow for a poor challenge on Casemiro.
United were needing some extra inspiration after battering on Reading’s door throughout a one-sided first half.
Red hot Marcus Rashford was having no luck – but Casemiro stepped forward with a swagger and brought Old Trafford to its feet.
First he timed a superb 55th-minute run to latch onto an Antony pass and lift the ball over Joe Lumley.three minutes later he lifted the roof off with a stunning 25-yard drive from the very top drawer.
With eight games in February including a Europa League doubleheader against Barcelona and two clashes against Leeds in the league, United fans might have expected Ten Hag to ring the changes.
But they were left thanking their lucky stars he didn’t rotate the brilliant Brazilian. Ten Hag is already just 90 minutes from awembley final in the Carabao Cup – and against Reading he went big again.
Most of his big guns were in the starting line-up against a Reading side five points off a Championship play-off place.
And Ten Hag made only one change from the team which planted one foot in the League Cup final with their 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest, Harry Maguire getting a rare start in place of Lisandro Martinez.
Backed by 3,000 fans Reading hoped the prospect of a free hit against their illustrious opponents might bring a surprise.
United, though, quickly gained control of the game and looked threatening every time they burst forward and in the opening half hour had 84 per cent possession.
In a testing opening 20 minutes Antony set up a chance for Wout Weghorst, then curled a trademark shot just past the far post. Christian Eriksen went close with a whipped free-kick and Rashford fired in a stinger beaten out by Lumley.
With Reading struggling to stay afloat, United thought they’d scored after 35 minutes when Rashford headed over the line at the far post but a VAR check ruled Weghorst was marginally offside in the build-up.
David De Gea only had four touches in the first half – but one of those was a superb save to stop Reading taking the lead through Hoilett just before half-time.