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Manchester United celebrate …
Alex Pantling / Getty Images
United manchester returned to normal when Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire enjoyed sweet moments of redemption in their team’s 4-1 victory in Newcastle on Saturday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side suffered a humiliating 6-1 loss to Tottenham at Old Trafford just before the international break.
But they partially made up for that embarrassment with a much-needed second win of the Premier League season.
After an own goal by Luke Shaw gave Newcastle an early lead, United captain Maguire scored the equalizer just days after he was widely criticized for his red card in England’s League loss. Nations against Denmark at Wembley.
Maguire’s first Premier League goal since February was a cathartic moment after a few months of trouble marred by poor performance on the field and his Greek court case off it.
Fernandes also went from zero to hero when the midfielder’s second-half penalty was blocked by Karl Darlow, before unleashing a magnificent shot that put United ahead in the closing minutes.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka tripled on his first goal for United and Marcus Rashford closed the barrage of late goals in injury time.
Although United were late to finish off Newcastle, the result was not more than they deserved and Solskjaer hopes it will be the start of a better run for his team after their turbulent season opener.
After calling Tottenham’s loss the “worst” day of his career, Solskjaer made five changes for United’s return to action.
Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood, and Anthony Martial were replaced by Victor Lindelof, Scott McTominay, Fred, Daniel James, and Juan Mata.
Time to savor
Solskjaer’s trades initially did nothing to improve United’s fortunes when Newcastle broke through in the second minute.
Allain Saint-Maximin and Jonjo Shelvey combined to find Emil Krafth on the right side of United’s penalty area and his cross drifted off Shaw’s outstretched leg as he passed David De Gea.
United thought they had drawn in the 19th minute when Fernandes fired into the upper corner from a pass from Mata, but VAR intervened to rule out that the Spanish midfielder was offside before giving the assist.
If Solskjaer feared it was going to be another discouraging night, his worries were allayed when Maguire finally had a moment to savor in the 23rd minute.
Maguire timed his run to find Mata’s corner, got in front of Jamal Lascelles at the first post and guided his header past Darlow from six yards.
Saint-Maximin came close to regaining Newcastle’s lead with a powerful shot that De Gea deflected as he hit a post, leaving the United goalkeeper needing treatment on his shoulder before he could continue.
Wan-Bissaka brought in a superb save from Darlow before Lascelles cleared Rashford’s shot off the line from the resulting corner.
De Gea made a warning stop to prevent Callum Wilson’s close-range shot from a Saint-Maximin cross from putting Newcastle ahead shortly after the break.
When Rashford was brought down by Jamal Lewis in the 57th minute, referee Craig Pawson initially appeared to ignore the infraction, but after consulting the pitch monitor, he ruled that the foul had occurred within the penalty area.
Fernandes has been an expert on penalties for United since he arrived in January, but for once he softened his lines when Darlow lunged to his right to avoid the midfielder’s shot.
Maguire came close to making up for Fernandes’ mistake when his header was cleared off the line by Shelvey, whose 30-yard blast elicited a good save from De Gea moments later.
But Fernandes had the last laugh anyway when he took Rashford’s clever reverse pass in the 86th minute and, from a sharp angle, launched an exquisite shot into the top corner.
Wan-Bissaka scored in the 90th minute with a pass from Rashford and the supplier became a scorer moments later with a fresh long-ball shot from Fernandes.
