Manchester United survived a late scare against Leeds on Sunday afternoon after throwing away a comfortable two-goal lead to eventually win the tie 2-4 and reignite their fight for the last Champions League spot.
The visitors raced into a two-goal lead before half time. Harry Maguire heading them in front before Bruno Fernandes headed in the second in first half stoppage time.
Quickfire goals at the start of the second half by Rodrigo and Raphinha set the stage for an interesting finish at Elland Road, before substitutes, Fred and then late on Anthony Elanga secured the three points for the away side.
There was one change to the Leeds side from their game against Brighton as Marcelo Bielsa surprisingly dropped their top scorer in the league, Raphinha to the bench. Many believe it may not be unrelated to his dissent after being substituted in their last game.
On the back of the several reports of a dressing room divide, Ralf Ragnick rang four changes with Paul Pogba returning to the starting lineup and a rare start for Jesse Lingard. Perhaps, he had their Champions League game in mind.
After a couple of injury dramas to Bruno Fernandes and Robin Koch early on in the game, the first goal-scoring opportunity fell to the man who came in for Raphinha, Adam Forshaw. He won the ball in the United half and raced into their box, but managed his effort too close to David de Gea, who parried away to safety.
Pogba was repaying the manager's trust in him as he caused troubles on the left for Leeds, easily skipping past Forshaw everytime. In the 26th minute, United thought they had taken the lead when Pogba beat Forshaw on the near side to send a ball into the 6-yard box where Cristiano Ronaldo was having a tap in, only to be denied point blank by Illan Meslier.
The Frenchman again set up Fernandes few minutes later in a similar approach, but the Portuguese's curling effort to the bottom corner was well saved by Meslier.
Horrible defending by Diego Llorente saw United take the lead from a corner. The defender totally focused on the player rather than the ball as Maguire beat him to a header from a Luke Shaw cross to open scoring.
A reeling counterattack launched by Viktor Lindelof as he drove the ball from his half into the opponent's final third, before setting up Jadon Sancho, whose cross was met by an unmarked Fernandes in the middle for United's second.
Two goals in one second half minute was the least that Manchester United would have hoped for as Leeds fought back after the restart.
Marcelo Bielsa looking like he realized his folly brought in Raphinha at the start of the second half and he made a statement with his team's second goal.
Junior Firpo, who had come in for Robin Koch in the first half released Rodrigo on the left side of attack. The Spainard's effort from a cross flew into the back of the net instead, catching De Gea off-guard.
Parity was restored almost immediately after the restart. Forshaw won the ball off Fernandes and released Daniel James on the right. The former Manchester United midfielder got into the box and sent a cross into the six-yard box for Raphinha to tap in at the far post. The goal was subjected to a VAR check for a possible foul by Forshaw on Fernandes, but there was none and the goal stood, which infuriated Ronaldo as he thought otherwise and got yellow carded for it.
Ragnick looked to have pulled a master stroke when he made two changes that eventually turned the game in his team's favour, bringing on Fred for Pogba and Anthony Elanga replaced Jesse Lingard.
Less than three minutes after coming on, Fred restored his team's lead, finishing a beautiful team move. Fernandes initiated the attacking and fed Ronaldo, who flicked the ball into Fred. The Brazilian played a one-two with Sancho and on receiving the return ball fired into the back of the net from a tight angle.
After initially missing a glorious opportunity to score, Elanga made atonement with United's fourth in the 88th minute. Fernandes had flicked the ball behind Patrick Struijk and before he could get onto the flip side, Elanga beat him to it and slotted between the legs of Meslier.
Concluding Thoughts
A good response from Manchester United after a week of emerging rumours of a rift in the dressing room and power tussle among the big players and caucuses.
Harry Maguire once again leading from the front and showed what the goal meant to him after being under fire in recent weeks over his play and role as Manchester United's captain, with many calling for him to be stripped off the captaincy.
United had the game in their hands at two nil and conceding early in the second half was not what they'd have wanted. You could argue that it's the three points that matter, but it was not a convincing performance overall by the Reds.
At various moments, we saw flashes of the kind of beautiful play they could bring to the fore, the Fred goal a casestudy. They still look like a lot of work in progress.
Another moot point was the officiating, in particular, the decision by referee Paul Tierney not to book Scott McTominay after committing a handful of fouls before his eventual booking in the late on in the game.
We have seen players go into the referee's books for lesser number of offenses. Referees need to show a level of constituency with their officiating.
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