Elanga explains technique of 'special' goal
Anthony Elanga paid tribute to under-18s coach Colin Little as he spoke of the 'special' feeling of scoring in front of 30,000 Manchester United fans at Old Trafford.
The 19-year-old has emerged as the star of pre-season with two fantastic goals in our two most recent games against London pairing QPR and Brentford.
It was a lively, energetic performance from Elanga in Wednesday night's entertaining 2-2 draw with Brentford at the Theatre of Dreams. He put United ahead with a wonderfully-executed volley in the 12th minute.
Scoring in front of fans is even better
Anthony Elanga is naturally buzzing, after his brilliant goal against the Bees...
"When it went in I could hear the roar from the fans, and I felt special," Elanga told MUTV post-match.
"It's my first time playing at Old Trafford with the fans, I played here against Leicester with no fans but with fans it's even more special."
As Elanga grabbed the opener for the Reds, his fellow Academy graduates Teden Mengi and Mason Greenwood roared in celebration with him.
"It's special," Elanga said.
"When I scored that goal, to see Teden and Mason, players that I've played with since I was in the under-14s, it's just even more special. Forget the goal for a minute, just being with them, playing with them, it's beautiful, it's special."
As for the execution of the goal, it was clean and composed. Anthony explained he had previously worked on using his feet in the box with United Under-18s coach Colin Little.
Watch Elanga's stunner against Brentford!
In all its glory, here's the Anthony Elanga volley that made it 1-0 to United in July's friendly...
"I think I worked really well with my feet," the Swedish-born winger recalled.
"It's something I've been really working on a lot, especially in the Under-18s with Colin Little, he's been teaching me a lot on how to work with my feet. That's what I did with my goal. The ball's behind me and I had to adjust my feet to get the contact and it's a really nice goal I think.
Elanga follows in the footsteps of Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood in using Little's expertise to improve small elements of his game. And improvement is the key word for him at the moment.
"I just like to keep working hard, I keep my head down and I just let my work do the talking," he said.
"For me it's just about improving, getting better and better. That's what this pre-season is about: getting better, playing games, getting minutes in my legs and just enjoying it in general."