Turf Moor hosted a tale of two halves on Tuesday evening, with Manchester United and Burnley both sharing the spoils in an entertaining 1-1 draw.
Man United had the ball in the back of the net shortly after ten minutes, but Raphael Varane’s header was chalked off after VAR spotted an offside Harry Maguire blocking Jay Rodriguez in the build-up.
However, Man United did eventually take the lead 18 minutes in.
Paul Pogba was left alone in the box and, when picked out by Luke Shaw, rifled the ball into the roof of the net with no hesitation.
The ball was in the back of the Burnley net once again just minutes later, but that was also written off for a controversial foul from Pogba.
Edinson Cavani, starting ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, had a great chance to grab that second on the half-hour mark, but a glorious save from Nick Pope at point-blank range kept the score at 1-0 heading into the break.
It took Burnley just two minutes of the second half to equalise.
Wout Weghorst got the better of Harry Maguire and slipped in Jay Rodriguez, who flashed his composure to strike past David de Gea and tie things up.
Burnley really grew into the game after that and could have easily had one or two more.
Weghorst was a real problem and Rodriguez wasted a superb counter attack, with United struggling to keep up at times.
Cristiano Ronaldo came on to try and save the day, but he wasted a perfect chance to do exactly that.
He found himself alone in the box with ten minutes to go but somehow sent his header over the bar.
Both sides continued to push for a winner, with Ronaldo fluffing his lines once again.
Weghorst looked particularly dangerous and tested De Gea more than once, but ultimately, a draw seemed a fair result.
Burnley player ratings
1. Goalkeeper & defenders
Nick Pope (GK) – 7/10 – Slipped over with every clearance he made but managed a handful of decent saves to keep the score down.
Connor Roberts (RB) – 5/10 – Absolutely battered by Sancho and Shaw.
Looked terrified and didn’t do nearly enough for the opening goal. Improved after the break.
James Tarkowski (CB) – 7/10 – An unconvincing first half but thrived after the break when asked to make headers and scrappy clearances. The Burnley way.
Ben Mee (CB) – 6/10 – Blushes were spared for one of the disallowed goals, but saved what looked like a certain goal later in the game.
Erik Pieters (LB) – 6/10 – Did a decent job of dealing with Rashford.
Even went on a one-man counter attack that he ruined with the worst pass imaginable.
2. Midfielders
Dwight McNeil (RM) – 3/10 – Looks totally wasted on the right. Couldn’t get into the game at all.
Josh Brownhill (CM) – 6/10 – Chasing Pogba’s shadow for the majority of the first half but really stepped it up in the second. Controlled the midfield battle at times.
Kieran Westwood (CM) – 4/10 – Played some aimless through balls that were never going to lead to anything.
Maxwel Cornet (LM) – 5/10 – Got in some really nice positions but put in some aimless crosses. Struggled to find his man.
3. Forwards
Wout Weghorst (ST) – 7/10 – Made the difference when dropping deeper.
Span Maguire once he figured out how to make an impact. Really impressive once he started getting involved more.
Jay Rodriguez (ST) – 6/10 – A thoroughly disappointing first half but redeemed himself with a nice goal to tie things up.
4. Substitutes
Aaron Lennon (LM) – 5/10.
Ashley Barnes (ST) – N/A.
Man Utd player ratings
5. Goalkeeper & defenders
David de Gea (GK) – 6/10 – Made a nice save to deny Weghorst after the break.
Diogo Dalot (RB) – 7/10 – Another excellent performance. Growing in confidence with every game.
Harry Maguire (CB) – 3/10 – A strange decision to block Rodriguez for Varane’s disallowed goal,
and an even stranger decision not to track Weghorst for the equaliser. Could have easily seen red for a last-man challenge.
Raphael Varane (CB) – 6/10 – Took his disallowed goal well and didn’t deserve to see it struck off.
Luke Shaw (LB) – 7/10 – Looked so in sync with Sancho down the left. Attacked with real menace and tormented Burnley’s defence.
6. Midfielders
Paul Pogba (DM) – 6/10 – A really impressive first half but saw his influence fade after the break.
Scott McTominay (DM) – 4/10 – Struggled up against Weghorst’s physicality and looked uncomfortable sitting deep. Didn’t have the defensive awareness.
Marcus Rashford (RM) – 4/10 – Looked a little scared at times.
Got into a lot of nice positions but constantly made the wrong decisions. Not on it.
Bruno Fernandes (AM) – 5/10 – Not on the same wavelength as his opponents, probably his fault. His passes were going nowhere.
Jadon Sancho (LM) – 7/10 – Very impressive going forwards. Tormented Roberts and really looked up for it.
7. Forward
Edinson Cavani (ST) – 3/10 – Preferred to Ronaldo for his willingness to press, he did pretty much nothing. Couldn’t get into the game at all.
8. Substitutes
Cristiano Ronaldo (ST) – 5/10
Jesse Lingard (AM) – 5/10
Anthony Elanga (RM) – N/A
