by It was 15 years ago this week that Federico Macheda turned six for Luke Young and curled a sublime finish into the far corner to seal a dramatic 3-2 victory over Aston Villa in stoppage time. The Stretford End erupted and, to this day, Macheda, then just 17, insists he has never heard a noise like it.
It remains to be seen whether Kobbie Mainoo’s virtual replica of Macheda’s moment of magic will be Liverpool’s title shot this season and that goal in April 2009 remains to be seen.
But the biggest surprise would be if Manoo’s career with Manchester United took off like Macheda did.
Within four years of that dramatic intervention, Macheda was plying his trade at Doncaster Rovers. He never came close to replicating that brilliance and is currently looking back at his playing days in Turkey with Ankaragucu.
Mainoo was still shy of his fourth birthday when Macheda wrote his name in Old Trafford folklore but here is one teenager who promises to be much more than a momentary flash in the pan.
The 18-year-old is likely to have played his way into England’s squad for the Euros this summer but the question is centering more on whether he will start in midfield alongside Declan Rice against Serbia on on June 16 and moments like this will make any chance possible. damage
With Steve Holland, Gareth Southgate’s assistant, watching from the stands alongside United’s new kingmaker Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Mainoo offered another vivid reminder of his immense talent to once again leave the Stretford End in rapture as Liverpool teased him.
Not only was it a 180 degree pivot and the exquisite chip of his right shoe, as gorgeous as they were all from an almost identical place where Macheda gave Young’s complex blood.
It was the way he initiated the attack in the first place, collecting Casemiro’s aerial ball and driving headlong with his majestic, majestic pass before drilling in Alejandro Garnacho’s pass, then drifting into the box and aiming exactly where he wanted. the ball back from Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
The confident youngster followed up with a goal as well as the winner in the 4-3 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers two months earlier. Mainoo moved over to the corner rug, put a hand on top of him and then greeted the maddened crowd with the other as Garnacho jumped on his back, wrapped an arm around his neck and gave him a kiss.
“Obviously my first professional goal at Old Trafford is incredible,” said Mainoo. “We didn’t come away with the three points so you can’t be too happy but it felt good so I think I was a bit ahead of myself when it went in!”
There is an arrogance to Mainoo’s football that United’s best players have had over the years but a humility about it. He may have upgraded cars to a club edition Mercedes A-Class and a BMW 4×4 this season but he still parks at the front of United’s training ground instead of around the back when the first team stars leave their vehicles.
Is it Mainoo’s way of saying he still has a lot to prove and a long way to go? It’s certainly hard to see the assassination coming to an end anytime soon. His favorite drink is water and, in Mainoo’s world, it’s Nando’s.
There’s little that upsets him, on or off the pitch, and he’s as comfortable in deep tight spaces in his own third as he is in the opposition penalty, a player with attributes of 6, 8 and 10. once this season, he has been caught in front of the ball, with Casemiro isolated, and that was true again in the first half especially against Liverpool.
But that seems more a consequence of Mainoo following his manager’s instructions than any tactical shortcomings on the part of the player. Mainoo has been asked to operate as a No. 8 alongside Brunp Fernandes, rather than as an extra keeper next to Casemiro, and the structural flaws and lack of cohesion in Ten Hag’s side lie with the manager, not the young midfielder.
“I feel it’s just little mistakes on the ball, off the ball – they happen in games but they can be damaging and they protect us,” Mainoo said when asked to explain United’s struggle to stop the The tide of Liverpool attacks.
That may have been a short sell but Mainoo, along with Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund, represents the future of this United side, just as he offers Southgate an interesting solution to a potential problem for England this summer.
Impressive on his England debut against Belgium last month, it would be exciting to see Mainoo team up with other rich young talents such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka in Germany. And days like this only add to his situation.
