Rasmus Hojlund stepped up to score in added time to save Manchester United’s blushes and help them rescue a point against the 10 men of Bournemouth on Sunday.
It was once again heading for a familiar result as Antoine Semenyo scored early in the first half for the hosts while the visitors tried hard but to no avail.
Before Evanilson’s 70th-minute red card, the Cherries looked comfortably in control despite Ruben Amorim picking his strongest XI for the game as he had indicated during the pre-match press conference.
The likes of Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Harry Maguire all returned to the starting lineup but it had little effect initially before the goal came in the sixth minute of added time.
Rasmus back among the goals
The goal came from Rasmus Hojlund, who was anonymous for the entire game before ultimately providing the telling touch inside the box.
With Alejandro Garnacho misfiring, Joshua Zirkzee ruled out for the rest of the season and Chido Obi ineligible for the Europa League, Amorim will be desperate to see the 22-year-old hit some form ahead of both legs of the semi-finals.
This goal should provide him some relief and help him settle down ahead of the huge contest in Bilbao in four days time.
With Diogo Dalot also possibly out for the season, Amorim will need his defenders to step up and on Sunday, he picked Luke Shaw for his first start of the season.
Shaw starts after a year
The England international was miles off the pace for most of the encounter and was partly responsible for the goal conceded on the day.
He was weak in the duels, and the rustiness showed at times but he did put in a dangerous cross right at the death that ultimately led to the equaliser.
The head coach will hope the Englishman can improve as he will now likely have a huge role to play against Athletic Bilbao.
Heading into a season-defining game on the back of another comeback, albeit for only a point, should do the team’s confidence some good and hopefully, the Red Devils can prove the Spanish media wrong over the course of both legs.
Feature image Ryan Pierse via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
