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Juan Mata pushed back the years when Manchester United repeated their performance in the Carabao Cup.
Last week, Mata scored in victory at Luton, goalie Dean Henderson made a crucial save at 1-0 and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sent the cavalry to go and win the cup tie.
It was a carbon copy at AmEx when Mata put on a brilliant man-of-the-match display preparing Scott Tominay for the opener, Henderson conceded with a wonderful save and then Mata completed a wonderful team goal before substitute Paul Pogba. sealed the victory.
The 32-year-old veteran Mata doesn’t have a lot of playing time these days, but he clearly still has a lot to offer with some wonderful moments in another excellent cameo.
Mata has been involved in 13 goals, five goals and eight assists, in his last 15 starts with United and it is still very nice to see him even though he is a bit of a player these days.
(Image: Getty Images)
But we got a glimpse of United’s future as Donny van de Beek provided a wonderful assist for Mata’s goal with a clever move.
And on nights like these, you can forget about all the noise and frustrations about the transfer window.
This was a wonderful victory, a passport to the quarterfinals, even if it was a world away from what happened just four days ago amid the VAR controversy and United’s victory even after the final whistle sounded. .
Both teams were unrecognizable when they rang the changes and it still took Pogba and Marcus Rashford’s introduction to really add the extra quality to seal the victory and prevent Brighton from coming back.
Manchester United are looking to chart their way back to the top. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already signed Donny van de Beek, but Jadon Sancho remains Manchester United’s number one target.
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It was a poor first half, with few chances until Mata’s intervention in the 43rd minute.
Mata pushed his way forward down United’s right wing, Brighton defender Dan Burn knocked him down very cynically and was immediately booked.
Mata took the resulting free kick and swung the ball toward the back post, Bernardo stepped in on Brighton’s defense and Scott McTominay came in unmarked to head hard home.
(Image: PA)
Brighton made changes when Neal Maupay came in for Jahanbakhsh and Leandro Trossard in place of Viktor Gyokeres and they were desperately unlucky not to score almost immediately in the 67th minute.
Jayson Molumby battled brilliantly on the edge of the area before Trossard snapped a shot from close range only to be parried by a sensational Henderson save reflex.
Solskjaer had seen enough and sent for Pogba and Rashford to try and bring in some extra quality to seal the victory.
Sure enough, United did score a second goal after 73 minutes and this time it was a wonderful and fluid team effort straight from the top box.
They made a patient move, chaining passes together across the field before suddenly picking up the pace and Pogba’s pass was thrown by van de Beek to Mata.
(Image: POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Mata then ran into the area, maintaining his composure before launching a shot into the bottom corner through Lewis Dunk’s legs and out of goalkeeper Jason Steele’s reach.
Seven minutes later, United ended the game.
Joel Veltman was booked after being fouled on the edge of the box, Pogba took over and the free kick sent him flying into the top corner through a deflection from Veltman.
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