Everton on Monday survived an astonishing moment of madness at Old Trafford when Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping teammate Michael Keane to beat Manchester United 1-0.
Senegal midfielder Gueye was given his marching orders by referee Tony Harrington in the 13th minute after putting his hand to Keane’s face following an angry altercation.
The home crowd anticipated waves of attack, but United failed to take advantage, proving toothless against David Moyes’ battling team.
Photo: EPA
Instead, it was the 10-man visitors who seized the initiative, courtesy of a wonderful strike by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the 29th minute.
Dewsbury-Hall received the ball midway inside United’s half and surged toward goal, beating Bruno Fernandes and Leny Yoro before bending the ball into the top corner.
United, missing injured forwards Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha, huffed and puffed, but could not find an equalizer despite 25 shots to Everton’s three.
Goalscorer Dewsbury-Hall, addressing the red-card incident, said Gueye had apologized.
“It was just a moment of madness,” he told Sky Sports. “It was obviously avoidable. All I can say is Idrissa apologized to us all at halftime and said his piece.”
Former United boss Moyes, celebrating his first win at Old Trafford as a visiting manager at his 18th attempt, said he was “incredibly proud” of his players.
“We’ve come close a lot of times, but not quite been able to go over the line,” he said. “But tonight, incredibly, we got over the line with 10 men, which was probably the hardest way to get a good result.”
Ruben Amorim, marking the first anniversary of his maiden game in charge of United, made several changes in the second half in a frantic search for an equalizer, but his team still lacked a cutting edge despite dominating possession.
Pickford kept out a powerful Joshua Zirkzee header with just more than 10 minutes of normal time to go, and Everton hung on for their first win at Old Trafford since 2013, with United booed off.
Earlier, the visitors suffered a big blow in just the 10th minute when they lost captain Seamus Coleman.
However, worse was to follow three minutes later with the scarcely believable bust-up between Gueye and Keane.
Gueye is the first English Premier League player to be sent off for fighting with a teammate since 2008.
The Premier League Match Centre posted on X: “The referee’s call of red card to Gueye for violent conduct was checked and confirmed by VAR [video assistant referee] — with the action deemed to be a clear strike to the face of Keane.”
A bitterly disappointed Amorim, seeking his fifth straight win at home, said his team had lacked intensity.
“You can feel right away when we start the game in the first minute, we can feel when we are at the top level in intensity and when we are not,” he said. “We cannot win games in this way.”
“I’m really frustrated with the way we played the game, especially in our home, especially understanding what happened during this week with the other clubs, looking at the table,” he added.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS