Bournemouth 1
Man Utd 1
Rasmus Hojlund snatched a dramatic 96th-minute equalizer through to avoid another defeath against 10-man Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Bournemouth dominated early on, capitalizing on United’s defensive errors. A complicated build up from the back involving Onana and Shaw led to Dorgu losing possession, which ended in Semenyo giving Bournemouth the lead in the 23rd minute. United responded with sporadic and I must say rather feeble chances, notably Garnacho’s lobbed attempt saved by Arrizabalaga in the Bournemouth goal.
Eearly in the second half we very nearly allowed the Cherries to double their lead through Semenyo and Ouattara, whose strike hit the crossbar. In the 70th minute the match took a twist in our favour when Evanilson’s reckless tackle on Mazraoui was upgraded to a red card after VAR intervention. I must confess it was more yellow than red from where I stood watching. 20 minutes to go to save the match and potentially win it against 10 men. Although United intensified the pressure, and we have a couple of half chances with Mount and Garnacho denied by last-ditch blocks, we were not really an onslaught!
With nine minutes of added time and United pushing for an equaliser, Bruno’s long-range effort grazed the side netting before Ugarte’s goalbound strike deflected off Højlund past Arrizabalaga in the 96th minute. Defeat avoided…just!
It was a match which was played with the Europa League semi-final against Athletic Bilbao in mind, and . despite 25 shots at goal, United’s struggles to score goals continued. Let us hoe we can find the goals in the 2 matched vs Bilbao…Numquam Moribimur!
