Alejandro Garnacho has played down any comparisons with his idol Cristiano Ronaldo.
Garnacho’s strike at Brentford on Sunday took him to 24 United goal involvements, one away from matching Ronaldo’s tally before reaching the age of 21.
With the Argentina international not celebrating his birthday until July, there’s every chance he can equal or even surpass our former no.7, who assisted Alejandro's maiden senior goal in November 2022, against Real Sociedad.
But, for now, Garnacho is concentrating on the here and now, as United prepare for the Europa League second leg against Athletic Club at Old Trafford.
“I’m not focused on the numbers. I think when Cristiano played here, he was a different footballer, [they were] a different type of games,”
he said, at Wednesday’s press conference.
“I just try to help the team and try to win games.
“Obviously, yeah, on missed chances and things like this, we are training really hard, me, Rasmus [Hojlund] and all the strikers in the team, so I think we are improving and we will try to do better.”
While things have been a little more free-flowing in Europe, United have found goals hard to come by in the league, with the three at Brentford moving us to 42 for the campaign.
Garnacho admits a lot of work is going on behind the scenes, especially with Hojlund, to increase the team's output going forward.
“I speak with him a lot. We try to help each other,”
he added.
“Sometimes, from this side, it’s difficult but we try hard, try harder every game to try to score more of these chances, and the team will improve if we score more goals.
“We know we are not doing a great job in the Premier League, but the manager said before, we follow the rules and, for us, it’s a final tomorrow.
“We are going to face the game like it’s 0-0 and try to win the game, not just the tie.
“If we win the Europa League, we will be in the Champions League and then we can face the next season with a better mentality and in a different way.”
Garnacho, who scored with a beautiful strike last time out at Brentford, was also asked to comment on speculation about his future and stressed how content he is at Old Trafford.
“Yeah, obviously as a footballer, you always going to hear some rumours about the future,”
he replied. “But I have a contract here until 2028, so I’m happy here.