On this day in 2020, Manchester United resumed the club’s interrupted Europa League campaign.
Following up a 5-0 away win over LASK before the shutdown in March, United won 2-1 at Old Trafford thanks to a late Anthony Martial winner, after Jesse Lingard’s earlier strike.
Martial had come on in the 84th minute, replacing Odion Ighalo. He needed just four minutes to score his winner.
This turned out to be Martial’s 23rd and final goal of the 2019/20 season.
What impressed manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was not just the clinical nature of Martial’s strike, it was the attitude and efficiency which enabled him to emulate his own super-sub role, and they were seen embracing after the game.
Speaking after the game, quoted by Goal, Solskjaer spoke highly of Martial’s attitude, work rate, and production.
The United boss said: “We want to win and Anthony was begging to come on. But he promised a goal as well, so well done.
“Anthony has upped his work-rate. He’s working harder in training, he’s working harder in the games; his physical stats show that. He’s been an absolute joy to work with. His attitude has been spot on.”
Martial produced an excellent performance a round later against Copenhagen where he won the decisive penalty, before drawing a blank against Sevilla in the semi.
Even so he finished the season as the top scorer, but upon his return in September, he did not look like the same player.
In our Anthony Martial season review we took a look at the various reasons his 2020/21 campaign fell apart, and it was a great shame for a player who had looked in total sync with the rest of the team at time of this LASK tie.
New look and new season
Martial is now entering a new season and he has a new look to match. He could do well to look back at his attitude and confidence from a year ago.
He wanted to play every minute and score at every opportunity. At times this determination appeared to wilt last season and he did not appear to be enjoying his time on the pitch.
A spell out injured will have helped him to re-evaluate and get some much needed time out. Now it is time to reboot and get started on rediscovering his top form.
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