This past weekend, Manchester United and Liverpool met at Old Trafford for a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The match didn’t disappoint, as the home side managed to draw level in the final minutes and turn the tie around in extra time thanks to a last-minute goal from an unexpected player: academy player Amad Diallo.
In a Manchester United team full of young players with a lot of quality, such as the already well-known Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford or Antony, the protagonist of the victory wasn’t any of them, but a young but not so well known Ivorian winger, taken from the ‘Red Devil’ youth academy called Amad Diallo.
It was a heart-stopping last few minutes:
The 21-year-old attacker came on in the 85th minute as Erik Ten Hag’s last attacking resort to tie the game, thus forcing the extra thirty minutes to come from behind.
Minutes later, Diallo’s strength seemed to rub off on the rest of his team-mates, who made it 2-2 through a gritty goal from Brazilian Antony. In this way, Manchester United went into extra time with extra energy and spirit.
However, the Red Devils were to suffer a bitter blow as Liverpool took the lead again through Harvey Elliot‘s goal early in extra time.
From that point on, the game became a see-saw affair that United took advantage of to level the match again with a goal from Rashford.
Just when it looked like the tie would be decided on penalties, Amad Diallo, the young homegrown player few fans knew about, became his team’s hero after finishing off a textbook counter-attack that he himself started from his own penalty area in the 120th minute.
Amad Diallo, a sensational player:
Amad Diallo, despite making his first-team debut several seasons ago, has had few opportunities with the seniors. This season, he has only managed a total of 98 minutes in four games for Ten Hag’s side.
However, the youngster has spent the last two seasons on loan at Rangers FC and Sunderland AFC, where he has shown great potential, leading managers to believe that the 15 million the club paid Atalanta for him could be more than paid off in the future.
Diallo is one of those wingers whose dizzying ability and enviable pace means he leaves any defender behind who tries to steal the ball from him.
We have seen him on many occasions with an exquisite overflow, breaking his opponents with great ease and putting the ball in the back of the net, starting from his flank, with a very particular shot with a tight effect to the opposite post.
An unstoppable player who has one major flaw: his impulsiveness. Proof of this is the sending off against Liverpool for receiving a second yellow card shown to him by the referee for taking off his shirt in celebration of his goal. An act that made the Dutch coach very angry and will undoubtedly cost the home-grown player dearly.
If they manage to control the player’s head, it is clear that Amad Diallo will be one of those players who will be on the front page of the sports papers in a few months time, and not for his controversial actions, but for his good deeds on the pitch.
Translated by Marcos Rodríguez.
Main image: @ManUtd.
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