While Cristiano Ronaldo’s granite-carved abs adorned the back pages once more this morning after destroying Villarreal’s hopes of a deserved point at Old Trafford with a shirt-tearing, last-gasp winner, a bold performance by Unai Emery’s visitors was relegated to a mere sub-plot in the CR7 show.
Three months after denying Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the first trophy of his Old Trafford reign after a penalty shoot-out that seemed to rumble on until the crack of dawn, Manchester United took some measure of revenge last night.
But on another evening – one in which Pablo Alcacer brought his shooting boots to the party – it would have been Villarreal celebrating long into the Manchester night, toasting another famous victory over the three-time European champions.
Inspired by the electrifying Arnaut Danjuma, who tortured Diogo Dalot and did his chances of a move to Liverpool no harm at all, Villarreal could and should have scored three or four against a United side badly missing the leadership of injured skipper Harry Maguire.
In fact, Ronaldo was only in a position to grab the post-match headlines because David de Gea, reclaiming his status as the “best goalkeeper in the world”, kept United in the game until the dying seconds of stoppage time.
Former Tottenham man Juan Foyth deserved better vs Manchester United
Even the most rose-tinted United supporters would have to agree Villarreal deserved better. Juan Foyth, a rock at right-back, deserved better.
Showcasing his versatility once more, a player sold by Tottenham Hotspur for just £8 million in July after an impressive loan spell on the Castellon coast, kept Jadon Sancho at arms length during a performance that had Spurs supporters wondering what might have been.
Tottenham, after all, have conceded nine times in each of their past three Premier League matches.
No-one can say with any certainty Foyth would have kept Romelu Lukaku or Wilfried Zaha quiet. But, on last night’s evidence, Foyth more than deserved a second chance in north London.
Here’s what some Tottenham fans on Twitter had to say about Foyth’s performance against Man United:
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