Amad Diallo scored his first Manchester United goal in the Reds 1-1 draw against European giants AC Milan in the Europa League round of 16, first leg.
The Ivory Coast international scored a vital goal just five minutes after coming on. He ran in behind the Milan defence and despite being just under 5’7 flicked his backwards header over Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The 6’4 Milan keeper could do nothing about it as the youngster wheeled away, celebrating his first goal for United. Not much of a better way to start your career than coming up with a crucial goal in a massive European tie at Old Trafford.
At 18 years and 243 days old, Diallo became the youngest non-British player to ever score in a major European competition for Manchester United.
The highly anticipated new signing thought he had stole the headlines for his new club but Simon Kjaer’s 92nd minute header means United have it all to do next week in Italy.
Diallo entered the action in place of Anthony Martial, who United fans will be hoping there is no serious injury involved as he showed signs of returning to his former self in recent games.
The 18-year-old signed for the Red Devils last summer for £37 million but didn’t join up with the squad until January. There has been a lot of hype around him since his arrival and he showed exactly why against AC Milan.
It is the first time he has been given more than 30 minutes since arriving at United but he definitely made a massive statement for more game time after this game.
Diallo didn’t just impress with his goal but he won 100% of his tackles, made four ball recoveries and had an 84% pass accuracy.
With Marcus Rashford, Edinson Cavani and Martial all potentially out for the next leg, it looks like it could be Diallo’s first start for Man United and they don’t get much more important than away to Milan.
The second leg takes place on Thursday 18th March and kicks off at 20:00 GMT, live on BT Sport.
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