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Alejandro Garnacho scores first Manchester United goal vs Real Sociedad
Alejandro Garnacho scored his first goal for Manchester United in the first half of the Europa League game against Real Sociedad on Thursday night.
Speeding down the left flank in the 17th minute in Spain he took a ball played through by Cristiano Ronaldo and powered into the area before finishing high into the far corner.
It was only the Argentina under-20 international’s seventh appearance for the United first team, and with the club needing to win by two goals to top their group and avoid a play off it set them on their way, although they weren’t able to find the second and finish the job.
Reacting on Twitter on Thursday night (3 November) former United defender Rio Ferdinand simply wrote “Boooom” above a video of the strike from BT Sport.
And talkSPORT posted on their own Twitter account a stat to illuminate the ages of the players involved: “Man United goalscorer Alejandro Garnacho wasn’t even born when Cristiano Ronaldo first signed for the club”.
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There are high hopes for the 18-year-old at Old Trafford, as the club look to continue their long history of bringing players through the academy to the first team.
The Europa League is likely to be a good opportunity for him to show what he can do, so with the Red Devils now facing a play off he could be turned to again for that.
Scoring the only goal in any game on the continent is a decent way to get yourself some attention, so it wouldn’t be much of a surprise for Erik ten Hag also give the teenager some chances in the league.
He will have a rejuvenated Marcus Rashford, a somewhat less flourishing Jadon Sancho, and Anthony Elanga to get past for game time in the wide areas.
It was only six months ago that he made his Premier League debut, and so far has just 13 minutes of action in the top flight over three substitute appearances.
But a start and a goal in the Europa League is not to be sniffed at and could be a sign that he is ready to break out this season.
In other Manchester United news, Paul Scholes compared him to Ronaldo after his first start in previous European game.