Manchester United 5, Leeds Utd 1
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United side hammered their local rivals from the other side of the Pennines 5-1 with a hat trick from Bruno Fernandes and goals by Mason Greenwood and Fred as Paul Pogba orchestrated the demolition with four assists on a day when United celebrated the arrival of two new signings.
United opened their account for the season with a deserved goal for Fernandes after Leeds United lost concentration for a moment and allowed him the space to score after 31 minutes.
Leeds equalised after the break when Luke Ayling scored his first Premier League goal for Leeds with a 25 yard rocket after 48 minutes.
But United responded quickly, going back into the lead after Mason Greenwood finished off a fine Pogba pass.
And Fernandes extended that lead barely a minute later when Pogba completed a hat-trick of assists to find Fernandes in space, cutting in from the right to beat Ilian Meslier from the edge of the area.
Fernandes completed his own hat trick shortly after that when Victor Lindelof produced a superb forward pass from defence to put the Portuguese wizard clean through having beaten the offside trap to hammer in United’s fourth into the roof of the net on the hour.
And it was 5 in the 68th minute when Fred got on the scoresheet with Pogba’s fourth assist of the game. – a cutback from the left which the Brazilian hammered home.
“We want six” was the refrain from Old Trafford as the travelling fans were silenced.
The sixth didn’t come but they could cheer the arrival of new signing Jadon Sancho after 75 minutes having already welcomed new signing Raphael Varane – their new number 19 – before the game in a surprise unveil by the club.
Embed from Getty ImagesMATCH RATINGS – Manchester United 5, Leeds Utd 1
David De Gea: 6. Little to do but Jack Harrison and Mateus Klich made sure he wasn’t napping. Comfortable in the second half.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 6. Offered nothing going forward and was left alone by Leeds again – went down blind alleys when he did venture forward to prove the point but the visitors had problems elsewhere.
Victor Lindelof: 7. Alert to early danger from Leeds and provided a peach of a pass for United’s fourth goal. Will want to keep his place in the side after the arrival of Raphael Varane.
Harry Maguire: 7. Looked a little short of match fitness, Patrick Bamford outpaced him during the first half. He grew into the game though.
Luke Shaw: 6. Came back early but was pinned back by Raphinha. Rippled the left netting after a rare attack and a 1-2 off Bruno Fernandes.
Scott McTominay: 7. Early shot blocked for the adventurous midfielder who struggled early against Leeds until the floodgates opened.
Fred: 7. Marked by Rodrigo, difficult to get moves going for United until the second half when he found more space after his shadow was removed and he hammered home United’s fifth.
Paul Pogba: 9. Looked up for it and could have scored after 13 minutes but shot wide. Linked up well and set up Bruno Fernandes for the opening goal and went on to set up 4 in all as Leeds could not cope with his movement.
Bruno Fernandes: 9. Got into good positions and tried to set up Daniel James with through balls and laid in a great chance for Mason Greenwood. Opened his account with great strike at the end of the first half and completed his hat trick by the hour mark in an irresistible performance.
Daniel James: 6. Pace an asset against Leeds, almost set up the first goal but inconsistencies remain in his shooting even though he occupied the visitors.
Mason Greenwood: 8. Pacy threat upfront but failed to get on the end of a delicious cross by Bruno Fernandes which would have been deserved. Kept the visitors occupied while other United players were doing the damage and got on the scoresheet too.
Nemanja Matic (on for Scott McTominay, 69): 6. Shielded the back four after the game was effectively over.
Jadon Sancho (on for Daniel James, 75): 6. Warm welcome for the new signing.
Anthony Martial (on for Paul Pogba, 75): 6. New haircut for the striker.
GOALS – Manchester United 5, Leeds Utd 1
Man Utd 1, Leeds Utd 0: 31. Bruno Fernandes made an angled run after getting the ball off Paul Pogba and finished past Ilian Meslier with a shot that looped up off the Frenchman and bounced into his net.
Man Utd 1, Leeds Utd 1: 48. Luke Ayling was set free and had plenty of space to hammer home a 25 yard rocket to level the scores.
Man Utd 2. Leeds Utd 1: 52. Mason Greenwood put the Reds back into the lead with another pass from Pogba.
Man Utd 3, Leeds Utd 1: 54. Bruno Fernandes cut inside from the right to score from the edge of the box after Paul Pogba found him in space.
Man Utd 4, Leeds Utd 1: 60. Bruno Fernandes completed his hat trick after getting on the end of a sublime long pass from Victor Lindelof.
Man Utd 5, Leeds Utd 0: 68. Fred completed the rout with a powerful finish after Paul Pogba cut the ball to him from the left.
MATCH STATS – Manchester United 5, Leeds Utd 1
Man Utd: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay (Matic 69), Fred, Pogba (Martial 75), Fernandes, James (Sancho 75), Greenwood
Man Utd Subs not used: Heaton, Mata, Pereira, Dalot, Williams, Van De Beek
Booking: Shaw 83
Goals: Fernandes 31, 54, 60; Greenwood 52; Fred 68
Leeds Utd: Meslier, Struijk, Koch, Cooper, Ayling, Raphinha, Klich, Dallas, Rodrigo (Firpo 46), Harrison (Helder Costa 69), Bamford (Roberts 76)
Leeds Utd subs not used: Klaesson, Forshaw, Phillips, Summerville, Greenwood, Shackleton
Bookings: Cooper 58; Raphinha 61
Goal: Ayling 48
Referee: Paul Tierney
Attendance: 72,732