Manchester United was left to rue missed chances as they produced one of the goalless football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. After Rashford outran Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope to set up the Brazil midfielder, Fred missed an open net in the 88th minute. Fabian Schar’s pressure caused him to botch his shot past the post. In the 95th minute, Rashford, who had taken over for Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese forward had two goals from the second half ruled out, headed wide from Casemiro’s cross.
In the first half, the visitors came the closest to scoring as Joelinton twice headed against the crossbar and then headed his rebound against the post. The goalless draw drops United to fifth place, three points behind fourth-place Chelsea, while Newcastle stays in sixth place and extends their winning streak to five games. Following Ronaldo’s 700th club goal last weekend and David de Gea’s 500th United appearance against Newcastle, former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson presented the two players at Old Trafford prior to the game.
However, it was the visitors who almost ruined the festivities when Joelinton beat De Gea twice in quick succession in the 24th minute after Callum Wilson had his demand for a penalty against Raphael Varane in the ninth minute rejected. United’s lone attempt at goal in the opening period came from Antony, whose low effort was denied by Pope at the near post. Then, in the next two minutes of the second half, Cristiano Ronaldo had two goals disallowed, with the first of those being ruled out in the 48th minute for a blatant offside.
The second, however, was more contentious since Portugal’s forward sprinted in to steal the ball from Pope and roll it into an empty net because he believed Newcastle had already taken their free-kick. Despite Schar’s contact on Pope, referee Craig Pawson thought the ball was still dead and booked Ronaldo for his protests. With 18 minutes remaining, the 37-year-old was then replaced by Rashford, much to the 37-year-chagrin, old’s and United manager Erik ten Hag almost saw a benefit from the switch.
For more football scores, click here
