Search icon

Football

27th Jan 2019

Manchester United’s free-kick future looks well and truly sorted

Mason Greenwood scored two cracking goals in an incredible comeback against Liverpool's U18s

Darragh Murphy

Several free-kick specialists have come and gone at Old Trafford over the years.

David Beckham’s dead ball highlight reel is almost unmatched and Cristiano Ronaldo was no slouch from set pieces either. Now we can add Mason Greenwood to that list.

On Saturday, we may have got a glimpse of Manchester United’s future from free-kicks within distance to the goal as Greenwood scored twice to condemn Liverpool’s U18 side to defeat in the arch-rivals’ Premier League Cup quarter-final clash.

Liverpool’s youngsters were enjoying a 2-0 lead when Greenwood decided to turn the game on its head with a gorgeous strike from 25 yards.

“He’s knocking on the door to get his first appearance,” United caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said when asked about Greenwood earlier this month.

Well if he was knocking a few weeks ago, Greenwood may well have broken the door down with his winner on the stroke of half-time of extra time.

After Di’Shon Bernard equalised to force an extra thirty minutes of action, Greenwood again showed off stunning technique by guiding the ball to the goalkeeper’s other side and sending United through to the semi-finals.

That was the 17-year-old’s 24th goal of the season and it’s definitely only a matter of time before we see Mason Greenwood lining out for the senior team.

“As Sir Matt [Busby] once said, ‘if they’re good enough, they’re old enough’,” Solskjaer said when asked about his youth policy when he replaced Jose Mourinho last month.