Leeds United 0, Manchester United 2
Two late goals by Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho propelled Manchester United to victory at Leeds United and second place in the league.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe win took the Reds up to second place for at least a couple of hours before Manchester City started their game against Aston Villa.
But victory was soured by both sets of fans chanting tasteless songs about recent tragedies in Munich and Istanbul and issued a joint statement condemning it.
The statement said: “Both clubs strongly condemn chanting from both sets of fans regarding historic tragedies at today’s game.
“Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will continue to work together with our respective fan groups and the Premier League, and other authorities on eradicating it from football.”
Erik Ten Hag was not happy with his side’s performance but said that bringing on substitutes changed their fortunes.
He said: “It was a hectic game. We were ready but on the ball we were not calm enough, we made too many mistakes.
“After we made the subs we dictated the game more and after the first goal the game was all ours.”
With squad rotation firmly in mind the United boss made three changes to the side that fought back at Old Trafford to salvage a point last Wednesday.
With a trip to Barcelona coming up on Thursday Jadon Sancho, Harry Maguire, and Tyrell Malacia were handed starts as Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, and Garnacho making way.
But United once again suffered from Leeds’ press and were once again lucky that the Lilywhites couldn’t take their chances.
Chances for Patrick Bamford and Crysencio Summerville were saved by David De Gea while Bruno Fernandes was twice denied by Ilian Meslier.
United were nervous at the back once again under pressure from their hosts after the break but the Reds hit the crossbar though Diogo Dalot’s 20 yard drive.
Luke Ayling’s overhead kick was easily collected by De Gea who also denied Summerville.
United had the final say, though, after substitutions which saw Sancho replaced by Garnacho with Lisandro Martinez coming on to steady the ship at the back.
And the deadlock was broken when Rashford was left unmarked and able to meet Luke Shaw’s cross with ten minutes to go for his 21st goal of the season.
Five minutes later substitute Garnacho made the score safe with a rasping drive which went in off the near post – his third goal of the season.
Rashford thought he had scored United’s third but VAR deemed him offside although United already had the points in the bag by then.