Kobbie Mainoo on Thursday scored a 97th-minute winner as Manchester United snatched a dramatic 4-3 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers after blowing a two-goal lead.
Marcus Rashford’s goalscoring return, days after being fined for missing training after a night out, looked set to grab the headlines as United raced into a 2-0 lead.
Scott McTominay restored the visitors’ two-goal cushion after Pablo Sarabia’s penalty got Wolves back in the game, but the hosts looked to have claimed a point when Max Kilman and Pedro Neto struck late on.
Photo: Reuters
However, 18-year-old Mainoo provided one final twist with a brilliant solo run and shot in the latest display of his potential as a rising star.
“He’s making incredible progress. He has great abilities,” United manager Erik ten Hag said. “He is the modern midfield player, he can attack and defend. He has the intelligence to do both and the physicality.”
Rashford missed United’s 4-2 FA Cup win at Newport County on Sunday after he spent two nights out in a Belfast nightclub last week. Ten Hag insisted before kickoff that it was “case closed” after the matter was dealt with internally.
Rashford was reportedly fined ￡650,000 (US$828,735) — the equivalent of two weeks’ wages — but the England international made an instant impact on his return, giving the visitors a perfect start after five minutes with a fine finish from outside the penalty area.
Rasmus Hojlund then bundled in his third goal in four Premier League games from Luke Shaw’s cross as Ten Hag’s men produced arguably their best 45 minutes of the season before halftime.
The Dutch coach has put his side’s poor form this season down to an injury crisis and the Red Devils were much improved with Shaw, Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro all back in the side for the first time in months.
Wolves have beaten Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at home this season, and looked to have been gifted a route back into the game in the second half.
Casemiro, who was starting his first Premier League game since October last year, was penalized for a foul on Neto and Sarabia converted the spot-kick.
McTominay then replaced Casemiro and scored with his first touch. The Scotland international headed in a Bruno Fernandes corner.
Kilman pulled another goal back for Wolves from a corner and Neto seemed to have completed the comeback in the 95th minute by firing inside Andre Onana’s near post.
However, Mainoo produced a moment of magic to secure United’s first away league win since November last year.
Ten Hag’s men can move into the top six tomorrow when they host West Ham United after the Irons were held 1-1 at home by AFC Bournemouth.
“It is massive for us to win. This match had a lot of sides,” Ten Hag said.
“We played very good and dictated the game for an hour. We should have made it 4-0, we didn’t and the end it is quite naive in how we conceded goals,” he said. “We then showed resilience, especially Kobbie Mainoo.”
Kalvin Phillips’ loan spell at the London Stadium got off to a disastrous start.
The England international was making his first appearance since joining West Ham from Manchester City, but gifted the Cherries the opening goal after just three minutes.
Dominic Solanke pounced on Phillips’ short back-pass to slot in his 15th goal of the season.
Alphonse Areola kept the Irons in the game with a brilliant save to deny Antoine Semenyo a second.
A run of three consecutive draws has hampered West Ham’s push for European soccer next season, but they did at least salvage a point in the second half.
Mohammed Kudus, on his return from the Africa Cup of Nations, was hauled down inside the penalty area by Lloyd Kelly and James Ward-Prowse converted from the spot.
West Ham remain in sixth place, seven points adrift of the top four, and now just one clear of Manchester United.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS