(AFP) - The young Argentine substitute, Alejandro Garnacho, gave his team, Manchester United, a fatal victory over its guest, Fulham, 2-1, on Sunday, in the fifteenth round of the English Football League .
Dutch coach Eric ten Hag's team seemed to be on its way to a second successive stumbling block, adding to its loss in the last stage against Aston Villa 1-3, who on Sunday achieved its second successive victory in the league under the leadership of its new Spanish coach, Unai Emery.
But the 18-year-old Argentine, who entered in the 72nd minute instead of Frenchman Anthony Martial to play his third match this season in the Premier League, said his word in stoppage time to give United their sixth successive victory at Fulham.
Portuguese Bruno Fernandes praised his young colleague, telling the BBC that the Argentine "has a lot of talent and his dedication to work with his talent makes a big difference by entering us from the bench."
"We are really happy for him and we know he can give us goals, assists and prove the joy of playing football."
With its eighth victory of the season, United raised its tally to 26 points in fifth place, three points behind the last fourth place that qualifies for the Champions League, while its London host stuck at 19 points in ninth place.
And in the complete absence of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo from the squad for the match a few days before the start of the Qatar World Cup 2022, United looked the match in the best way after advancing since the 14th minute through Danish Christian Eriksen after a quick counterattack and a pass from Martial to Portuguese Bruno Fernandes, who reversed it to the former Tottenham player, so he bid it farewell. curling.
Eriksen thus became the first Danish player to score for United since goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel in September 1995 against Russian Rotor Volgograd in the European Union Cup, according to "Opta" statistics.
The result remained the same until the 61st minute, when the London team managed to equalize from a quick counterattack, too, and a cross from Scotsman Tom Cairney to Welshman Daniel James, who turned the ball into his former team's net after it passed between the legs of Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea.
And when the match was taking its last breath, the scenario of the last stage was repeated for Fulham when it lost to the other pole of Manchester City, the defending champion, 1-2 in the fatal time, by receiving a goal in the third minute of stoppage time through Garnacho, who exchanged the ball with Eriksen and then penetrated with lightning speed inside The area before he hit it on the floor to the left of German goalkeeper Bernd Leno, scoring his third goal in 13 matches he has played so far in all competitions with the first team.
In a second match, Aston Villa turned its deficit against its host Brighton into a second successive victory in the league, led by Emery, and came with a score of 2-1.
Villa had started his career with Emery, who succeeded Stephen Gerrard, brilliantly by achieving his first victory at home against Manchester United (3-1) since August 1995, before Sunday added his second successive victory in the Premier League under the leadership of his Spanish coach.
Villa, who failed Thursday to repeat his victory over United by losing to him in the round of 16 of the League Cup competition (2-4), began his confrontation with Brighton by falling behind a minute before the start as a result of a mistake by Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinis in passing the ball to his Brazilian colleague Douglas Luiz, so his compatriot kidnapped her. Alexis McAlister shot it into the net (1).
But Danny Ings brought the guests back to the meeting from a penalty kick in the 20th minute, then completed the return with his second personal goal in the 54th minute after a pass from Douglas Luiz, to give his team the fifth victory of the season in twelfth place with 18 points, while Brighton suffered its fifth defeat to freeze its score at 21. points in seventh place.