Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick and Paul Pogba provided four assists as Manchester United beat Leeds 5-1 at Old Trafford to give their Premier League season a flying start on Saturday.
In front of 73,000, the largest football crowd in the United Kingdom since March 2020, United ran a riot with their two midfield masters, raising hopes of a challenge for the first league title since Alex Ferguson took over as manager in 2013. retired.
Fernandes gave the home team a deserved half-time lead, but Leeds equalized early in the second half through a brilliant strike from Luke Ayling.
However, with Pogba in fine form, United was not to be denied as the Frenchman mixed Mason Greenwood, Fernandes and Fred while Fernandes completed his first United hat-trick in thumping fashion.
Fernandes said, “People talk about Paul’s quality, but his quality is not discussed. We know what he can do and today he showed. He is an important player for us.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men finished second in the Premier League last season after Manchester City with no hope of a title challenge undone by their poor record in front of an empty Old Trafford.
The Theater of Dreams was replaced by a full house in the hustle of noise, resulting in a similar change on the field from United.
Home fans were already on their feet before a ball was kicked to welcome Rafael Varane as the French centre-back was paraded on the pitch following his arrival from Real Madrid for £40m ($55m).
Varane was not registered to make his debut in time, while United’s summer signing Jadon Sancho made other big money starts on the bench.
“We know the quality of the players that have come, but the team was already very good. We showed it last season.”
Pogba rubbishes speculation
United also lacked Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani, but it allowed Pogba to flourish in his preferred role on the left side of the front three.
The 28-year-old has again been a source of speculation in recent weeks after starring for France at an otherwise disappointing Euro 2020 for world champions.
But Pogba eventually built on his international form for United as he surpassed his number of assists for the entire 2020/21 league season in under 90 minutes.
Pogba’s dipped ball at the top took Fernandes out completely to open the scoring on 30 minutes as Ilan Meslier could not continue his powerful effort despite getting his footing.
Leeds were lucky to be only one goal behind at half-time and regrouped at the break when they equalized brilliantly in three minutes into the second half.
Ayling advanced from right-back to make an unassailable effort into the top corner from 25 yards for his first Premier League goal.
However, the enthusiasm of the Tour Leeds support was short-lived due to the sight of Pogba four minutes later.
Greenwood was the recipient of the defense-division pass this time as he cleared Pascal Struijk and fired accurately into the far post.
Fernandes then sent home his second Pogba pass of the afternoon and completed his first United hat-trick in style with a thumping finish on the roof of the net with a long ball from Victor Lindelof.
Pogba’s fourth assist of the afternoon propelled Fred to a rare goal from the edge of the box.
Solskjaer then afforded the luxury of handing Sancho his debut game, which was won as a £73million winger and Anthony Martial was introduced for the final 15 minutes.
They could not add to the score, but United was already done as they sent out early warnings to their title rivals.
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