The good, the bad, the ugly and the, frankly, chaotic combined as Manchester United took a significant step towards Europe and Leeds moved too close to the Championship for comfort. The latest renewal of one of English football’s greatest rivalries was undeniably exhilarating but depressingly unpleasant undertones were evident as missiles were hurled from the stands at visiting players, with one hitting the Manchester United substitute Anthony Elanga.
A defiant Leeds drew level, albeit briefly, after falling two goals behind, while Jadon Sancho had arguably his best game for Ralf Rangnick’s side as questions concerning Marcelo Bielsa’s future at Leeds resurfaced. Manchester United’s first visit to a full Elland Road since 2003 coincided with a day of torrential rain and capriciously gusty winds, with the hazardous underfoot conditions more than matched by the hostile atmosphere.
To say there is antipathy between these two sets of fans would be putting it mildly and a competing soundtrack featuring, most politely, the Leeds anthem Marching On Together and the visitors’ favourite Pride Of All Europe heightened the frenetic onfield intensity.
With Bielsa’s side struggling to retain possession on the heavy, sodden, surface, Rangnick’s players exerted greater control and cohesion. They swiftly set the tone when the initially influential Paul Pogba nutmegged a startled Diego Llorente before crossing and seeing Cristiano Ronaldo denied by Illan Meslier’s knee.
Rangnick held talks with senior players last week, apparently in response to tensions centring on Ronaldo.
Harry Maguire has denied suggestions of a rift and the pair combined to positive effect as Manchester United showed they can still score from corners after all. With Ronaldo serving as a decoy and Meslier wrong-footed, Maguire lost Llorente, met Luke Shaw’s delivery and headed in his first United goal since January 2021.
Perhaps Rangnick’s psychologist, Sascha Lense, really is as good as advertised. Back in August Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick as Leeds went down 5-1 at Old Trafford and, shortly before half-time, Rangnick’s attacking playmaker got on the scoresheet here.
Fernandes’s header will have reminded Leeds fans why they pine for their injured central-midfield enforcer, Kalvin Phillips. With a head wound forcing Robin Koch’s withdrawal, that department proved worryingly understaffed. Tellingly,
Fernandes was left completely unattended as Victor Lindelöf played a slick one-two with Jesse Lingard – making his first Premier League start this season – and pinged an astute pass towards the excellent Sancho. Sancho’s cross exposed the alarming lack of home resistance and Fernandes was entirely unopposed as he glanced a header beyond Meslier from near point-blank range.
With the hosts’ optimism fast evaporating, Bielsa – who seems increasingly unlikely to be at Elland Road next season – desperately needed to change things.
On came Raphinha and within minutes of the talismanic, if recently jaded-looking, Brazilian right-winger’s introduction at the start of the second half, an unlikely Leeds comeback suddenly looked possible. Their temporary renaissance began with a little luck, Rodrigo reducing the deficit with a wickedly swerving, apparently fluke, cross-shot which deceived and evaded David de Gea.
Inside a minute Bielsa’s players had levelled with Raphinha tapping in Dan James’s clever cross as Shaw, the Brazilian’s supposed marker, dozed. When that equaliser survived a VAR review occasioned by Adam Forshaw’s perceived foul on Fernandes in the buildup, the celebratory roar may well have been audible on the other side of the Pennines.
After Ronaldo had been booked for dissent, the moment for Rangnick – who will have noted the ease with which James dodged Lingard and Aaron Wan-Bissaka – really to earn his money arrived. The German duly hooked the fading Lingard and, rather more contentiously, Pogba, introducing Fred and Elanga.
Talk about inspired. Shortly after that switch, a fluid Manchester United counterattack concluded with Sancho contributing the cutest of layoffs and Fred lashing home a superlative goal.
The celebrations, and the occasion, were scarred when an object struck Elanga on the head. Sadly it would not prove an isolated incident – Maguire picked another missile up from the pitch as the teams trooped off at half-time and presented it to the referee, Paul Tierney.
Mercifully Elanga was not badly hurt and was able to rejoin the increasingly helter-skelter drama. After watching De Gea divert Stuart Dallas’s volley, Rangnick decided caution was called for and switched to a back three, replacing Ronaldo with Raphaël Varane.
Elanga appeared to have had the last word, the 19-year-old Swede sliding Manchester United’s fourth beneath Meslier after Fernandes’s exquisite flick confounded Pascal Struijk. It seemed a fitting finale but a less pleasing reality intruded as Junior Firpo’s foul on Elanga provoked a minor mass melee entirely in keeping with the mildly manic tenor of this latest instalment of an ancient rivalry.
