Erik ten Hag was unable to hide his delight with Alejandro Garnacho as the teenager netted the second goal in Manchester United ’s two-goal victory at Leeds.
Garnacho produced a superbly timed run and finish to wrap up the points for Ten Hag’s side with five minutes remaining at Elland Road. The game had been meandering towards a scoreless draw before Marcus Rashford broke the deadlock in the 80 th minute.
Rashford headed home expertly from Luke Shaw ’s cross and that opened up the game sufficiently for Garnacho to thrive, showing his awareness and link-up play to run on to Wout Weghorst ’s pass to add a second goal and settle the destination of the three points.
Having been frustrated for the majority of the match, the visitors began to run riot with Rashford putting the ball in the net again but it was ruled out for a marginal offside call. Weghorst also provided a close-range finish, yet it was determined the ball came from Harry Maguire rather than a Leeds defender.
Yet the two goals were always going to be sufficient for the visitors to secure the victory, with Ten Hag allowing his emotions to be shown on the sidelines after Garnacho goal. The Dutchman had a huge grin on his face and enthusiastically applauded the goal having given the forward two thumbs up, before clenching his fists in delight.
It was a moment that had vindicated Garnacho’s introduction into the game just after the hour mark as he came on for Jadon Sancho. That prompted a change in shape as Garnacho moved to the left with Weghorst dropping deeper and Rashford pushing into a more central attacking role.
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Garnacho celebrated his goal, which put the game beyond the reach of Leeds, by shushing the home fans after coming in for some criticism. The wide-forward had been frustrated by Leeds just four days previously, as he was substituted after an hour before Ten Hag’s side came from two goals down to rescue a point.
It was another moment of immense quality and skill from the teenager, who now has four goals to his name this season having been integrated into the first-team squad by Ten Hag. This goal and substitute cameo was another vindication of his coach’s management of him.
Garnacho is likely to play a huge role in the closing months of the campaign for United with the club still involved in the FA Cup, having reached the EFL Cup final and having a huge two-legged knockout tie against Barcelona in the Europa League on the horizon.
