Soccer
Manchester United 4-4 Aston Villa: Dorgu heads a 90+6 equaliser as United make Premier League history at Old Trafford
Manchester United rescued an unlikely point at Old Trafford on Sunday: twice two goals down, the Red Devils drew 4-4 with Aston Villa thanks to two stoppage-time goals, from Joshua Zirkzee in the 90+2 and Patrick Dorgu in the 90+6. No team in Premier League history had ever come back from two goals down twice in the same game to earn a draw.
Villa strike twice in four minutes
The game started like a nightmare for Old Trafford. In the first minute, Alysson opened the scoring for Aston Villa, and Nicolas Jackson doubled the lead in the 4th minute: 2-0 after four minutes, a lightning start from the visitors. Manchester United fought back, though. Bruno Fernandes pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 16th minute, then Youri Tielemans, against his former club, levelled in the 44th minute from a Noussair Mazraoui cross. At half-time it was 2-2, and the crowd had hope again.
Villa restore their two-goal lead
The second half followed the same cruel script. Three minutes after the restart, Diogo Dalot conceded a penalty on Alysson and John McGinn converted it in the 48th minute. Five minutes later, Leon Goretzka scored his first goal in a Villa shirt, in the 53rd minute, after a scramble at a set piece: 4-2 to the visitors. United pushed relentlessly — 26 shots in total — but Mason Mount hit the post with a volley in the 89th minute, and time seemed to be running out.
Dorgu, the hero off the bench
That is when the substitutes changed the game. Introduced in the 66th minute, Patrick Dorgu first set up Joshua Zirkzee, who had come on in the 83rd minute, for the 4-3 goal in the 90+2. Then, in the 90+6, from a Bruno Fernandes corner, Dorgu rose highest to head in the equaliser and send Old Trafford wild. A goal and an assist in 24 minutes on the pitch for the Danish full-back, the hero of a night the supporters will not forget.
United stay 18th as the break comes at the right time
The rescued point does not change the underlying problem, though: with one win in ten league games, a first since the 1972-73 season, Manchester United head into the international break in 18th place, in the relegation zone, on an eight-game winless run in the league. The pressure remains heavy on manager Michael Carrick. At the top, Arsenal have 27 points, five more than second-placed Brighton. The Premier League resumes on November 21: United must turn these spectacular comebacks into wins, or the season will slip away from them.