Manchester United paid tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton with a 2-1 Premier League win at Sheffield United and Harry Maguire was one of the best performers. The centre-back hailed his former club after surprising the visitors with an unexpected formation.
The centre-back started his consecutive game under Erik ten Hag and after a strong showing – as well as Jonny Evans coming off with a knock – it’s likely that he will be in the line-up against Copenhagen midweek.
United are touring one of the greatest ever players following Sir Bobby Charlton’s passing on Saturday evening and goals from Scott Mctominay and Diogo Dalot ensured they remembered a legend with victory.
Sky Sports named Maguire as their man of the match and it’s for a wild call. He was everywhere at the back tonight and won an huge amount of aerial duels.
Maguire admitted Sheffield United caught the Reds by surprise with the formation they were playing with and it took time for us to adapt.
The centre-back said (via BBC Sport): “They caught us by surprise with the formation they were playing but I felt were adapted. We hit the woodwork, I know we can play better than we did tonight, but it is an important win.”
He also said that the Sir Bobby Charlton news hit the team hard because they’ve been used to his presence around the club: “First and foremost it is a really sad day. We obviously found out this afternoon and preparing for a game it hit us hard. Sir Bobby came into the dressing room a lot and he lit the place up. He is an absolute legend of the club. We are delighted to win the game but this is more than football and our thoughts are with his family.
“He’d always come in if we won or lost but his presence was really felt in the dressing room. You’d always see him around the club. We will miss him, the world will miss him.”
United have registered back-to-back league victories for the first time this season and Ten Hag will hope this can be a springboard ahead of next week’s Manchester derby.
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