Why Mainoo's goal was extra special

Friday 02 February 2024 10:36

Manchester United fans just cannot stop watching Kobbie Mainoo's brilliant winner against Wolves.

After the Reds had been pegged back to 3-3, due to Pedro Neto's equaliser on the break, our newly crowned Player of the Month picked the ball up from substitute Omari Forson and tricked his way into a shooting position.

There was still much to do but he displayed exquisite technique to steer his finish wide of Jose Sa to send the away supporters crazy and clinch an eighth 4-3 victory of the Premier League era.

Although the strike came in the 97th minute, there was more injury time to be played out before three important points could be celebrated.

Video
Watch all the angles of Thursday's dramatic winner.

A goal in successive games for Kobbie kept him very much in the spotlight and manager Erik ten Hag explained afterwards why he is a role model for other youngsters in the Academy, as he is able to keep his feet on the ground.

"There can be a lot about him," admitted the boss in one of his post-match interviews with the official broadcasters. "He is a great kid. Only in his head is football. 

"He wants to progress every day. He is really an example for a lot [of others] and he has abilities. He has talent but talent has to work hard to progress, and that is what he is doing. 

"I hope and I wish push him to keep going."

Opta also produced an interesting stat, stating that this was only the second goal since the formation of the league in 1992 to be both assisted and scored by teenagers.

With Forson's pass leading to the strike, Opta revealed the other time this happened was back in January 2005.

That memorable occasion was at Anfield, when Wayne Rooney's low shot beat Jerzy Dudek, from a Cristiano Ronaldo set-up, to earn a sweet 1-0 success against Liverpool.

Rooney was 18 at the time, with Ronaldo only a year older.

Video
Wayne Rooney's winner at Liverpool - watch the goal and stay for the celebration!

Everybody of a United persuasion was naturally buzzing, and it was nice to see Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill's reaction to the goal at Molineux from their seat in the stand.

Former midfielder Ander Herrera perhaps summed up the general mood when posting on Instagram: "What a player, what a future this Mainoo [has]."

Well done, and thank you, Kobbie - as we look ahead to seeing you at Old Trafford on Sunday, against West Ham United.

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