Coutinho’s debut goal cancels out Bruno Fernandes’ brace as Aston Villa steal a draw against Manchester United

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Philippe Coutinho came on to replace Morgan Sanson after Manchester United’s second goal with little over 20 minutes left on the clock to inspire a marvellous comeback for the Villans.

Despite being 2-0 down, Villa continued their attacking barrage which earned them a consolation goal, thanks to Jacob Ramsey, which ignited belief amongst players and supporters.

Beautiful play from Coutinho and Carney Chukwuemeka gave the midfielder the chance to score as he perfectly placed his shot past David De Gea with 13 minutes to go.

Just five minutes later, the scorer turned provider as Ramsey’s pinpoint pass across the six-yard box went straight to the feet of Coutinho who tapped the ball in from close range to level the game up at 2-2 and send Villa Park wild.

After the game, Steven Gerrard gave his thoughts on the Brazilian’s promising first outing for his side.

“You don’t lose talent. The key thing for Phil [Coutinho] is he needs to be somewhere he is loved and smiling.”

The home fans certainly gave their new signings a warm welcome as a mass of Brazilian flags could be seen around the stadium.

Lucas Digne, who made the £25 million move from Everton on Wednesday, also showed positive signs on his debut in claret and blue as he marauded up and down the left flank like a steam train for the duration of the contest.

Villa would have felt hard done by to be behind at the interval after De Gea kept the Red Devils in the lead following some excellent saves to stop Emiliano Buendia’s header as well as closing his legs in time to deny Digne’s venomous shot just before half-time.

The Spaniard continued with his heroics in the second half as he was equal to Ramsey’s close-range effort, however, it was not enough to take the three points back to the red side of Manchester.

It was mostly one-way traffic in favour of the hosts, so at least a point was deserved for Villa.

However, Ralf Rangnick will no doubt be furious with the inexcusable way his side threw away a solid two-goal cushion.

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Bruno Fernandes scored two long-range goals, his second of the game was gift-wrapped by Sanson whose stray pass gave Fred the chance to pick the ball up and lay it off to the Portuguese playmaker who thundered the ball home off the crossbar from just inside the 18-yard box with 23 minutes to go.

Fernandes’ first came from a training-ground move. The free-kick was backheeled by Alex Telles to United’s number 18, who took a shot from range which caught out Emiliano Martinez in goal. The Portuguese man’s shot went under the Villa shot-stopper giving United the lead after six minutes.

The Red Devils, despite taking a two-goal lead, looked toothless in attack with Cristiano Ronaldo absent through injury as chances were few and far between. His replacement, Edinson Cavani, had little to feed off which saw the Uruguayan have the least touches of any outfield player to play the full 90 minutes with just 32.

Anthony Elanga came in for his first Premier League start of the season, replacing the injured Marcus Rashford, and gave Matty Cash a tough job in the first half.

Mason Greenwood was unlucky not to add what would have been United’s second of the evening as he burst down the right flank before unleashing a cross-goal effort that went narrowly wide of Martinez’s post just after the hour-mark.

Both sides now set sights on their next Premier League ties. For United, a quick turnaround is needed in time for Wednesday’s trip to Brentford as Villa face Everton at Goodison Park in a week’s time.

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