Micah Richards labelled Łukasz Fabiański’s save during West Ham’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United as ‘world-class’, as he stated on Super Sunday on Sky Sports.
The action happened in the 28th minute when a corner for Manchester United was flicked into the path of Bruno Fernandes, who struck the ball as cleanly as possible, with Fabiański diving to his left and tipping the effort onto the post.
It was an outstanding moment of high-quality action from the West Ham goalkeeper, who would have been annoyed with how he dealt with Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal seven minutes later.
It was Ronaldo’s initial header that the Poland international parried back into his path, and in his own typical fashion, the returning Old Trafford hero equalised, at the time.
But it was Fabianski’s moment of magic before that goal that impressed Richards in the Sky studios.
“Incredible save,” said Richards. “If you just look at his feet movement. He is always ready for it.
“The way he gets a little touch on it and clips it around the post. We talk about saves, that is a world-class save, it really is.”
One thing is for sure, Fabiański couldn’t do much with Jesse Lingard’s winner because it was an outstanding finish from the player.
On many occasions last season, Lingard would have put the ball past Fabiański’s net in training, but this time he did it in a more heartbreaking fashion for the West Ham faithful.
As soon as Lingard netted the winner, the headlines were written, only for the home side to be awarded a penalty minutes later and for Mark Noble to come off the bench to see his spot-kick saved by David de Gea.
It was a drama-filled day at the London Stadium, and whilst one keeper was lauded for his ‘world-class’ actions in the first half, his counterpart walked away with the Man of the Match award for his stoppage-time save.
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