Manchester United smiled again twenty days later thanks to a balmy victory against a team that had fully entered the fight for the Premier. The ‘Red Devils’ signed a heroic comeback that led by Alejandro Garnacho and completed by Hojlund against an Aston Villa that was leading 0-2 at half-time.
Although Old Trafford exploded with joy with the Dane’s goal that made it 3-2 in the 82nd minute, Garnacho was the great and only protagonist of the night. The Argentine winger, ostracized like the majority of the team this season, resurfaced on Boxing Day with a double that allowed United to end a streak of four consecutive games without knowing a victorysince December 6 against Chelsea.
When United seemed destroyed and Ten Hag was seen for judgment, Alejandro Garnacho finished off a delivery from Marcus Rashford at the far post. Then, he scored the second on his own account after catching the rebound of a defender and sending it to save with his left foot where Dibu Martínez could not reach. With this double, Garnacho now adds five goals in 25 games played this season, the same ones he scored throughout the 22/23 campaign in 34 games.
The Spanish-born youth player debuted his scoring tally of 23/24 in the victory against Crystal Palace in the round of 32 of the EFL Cup, on September 26. Two months later, on November 26, he participated in the rout of Everton with a spectacular bicycle kick that can be defined as the best goal of the season in the Premier. And three days later he scored his first goal in the Champions League, which opened the scoring against Galatasaray, although his joy ended up turning into a nightmare with a final result of 3-3 in a match to forget in Turkey.
The one that you will surely not forget is the night of December 26, 2023, a date that may mean a turning point for a footballer who is only 19 years old that he has put an entire Manchester United in crisis on his back and that he has been able, single-handedly, to turn some thunderous whistles at Old Trafford into applause and ecstasy.