Christian Eriksen came up against Manchester United for the first time in February 2012 and roll forward ten-and-a-half years later and the Denmark playmaker is now a Red Devils player.
Eriksen, who trained at Ten Hag’s Ajax while building up his fitness after recovering from the cardiac arrest he sustained in last summer’s European Championships, decided to join the Reds over extending his stay with Brentford.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan star signed for the Bees in January and his eye-catching form upon his return to football, which helped keep Thomas Frank’s side in the Premier League, prompted Ten Hag’s interest.
With the Denmark international’s move to Old Trafford confirmed, we take a look at Christian Eriksen’s record against Manchester United.
Christian Eriksen’s record against Manchester United
Brentford’s 3-0 defeat at the Theatre of Dreams in May was the 16th time Eriksen had faced Manchester United during his impressive career.
The former Serie A and Eredivisie champion has only faced Chelsea (17) more often than the Red Devils.
Eriksen’s first appearance against the twenty-time league champions came in February 2012 when his Ajax side faced Sir Alex Ferguson’s Reds in the Europa League.
Eriksen, who had just turned 20 ahead of facing the legendary Scot’s side, was unable to prevent the Amsterdam giants from being knocked out 3-2 on aggregate.
As well as facing off against Ralf Rangnick while at the Bees, Eriksen played against United when we had David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge, following his move to Tottenham.
In his first game against United for Spurs, Eriksen scored and provided an assist in a 2-1 win at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day in 2014.
Emmanuel Adebayor opened the scored with a header following a left footed cross from the right-hand side by Eriksen.
Eriksen doubled Tim Sherwood Spurs side’s lead with a diving header following a deflected Aaron Lennon cross.
In April 2016, it was Eriksen’s assist that resulted in Dele Alli opening the scoring at White Hart Lane. Mauricio Pochettino’s side scored three goals in six minutes and beat Van Gaal’s Reds 3-0.
Eriksen broke the deadlock inside the opening 20 seconds when Mourinho’s United side travelled to Wembley in January 2018.
Alli laid the ball into the patch of Eriksen who calmly slotted the ball past David de Gea with his left foot, in a game that Tottenham went on to win 2-0.
In August 2018, and in the third Premier League game of the season, Eriksen grabbed an assist in a 3-0 win at Old Trafford for Pochettino’s side against Mourinho’s wounded troops.
Eriksen ran in-behind down United’s left-hand side and pulled the ball back into the patch of Lucas Moura who slotted the ball past a stricken De Gea.
Eriksen was part of the Tottenham side that were beaten 2-1 by United in the 2017-18 FA Cup semi-finals.
The midfield maestro played a crucial role in giving Tottenham the lead in the 11th minute. After Paul Pogba failed to track Eriksen’s run, the 115-time Denmark international whipped in a tantalising cross which Alli slotted home.
But goals from Alexis Sanchez and Ander Herrera turned the tie around for Mourinho’s men.
Eriksen never faced the Reds in Europe during his time with Inter Milan. In his 16 appearances against Manchester United, Brentford’s former number 21 won six, drew once and lost nine times.
In those outings he conjured up two goals and five assists. During his career, Eriksen has made 237 Premier League appearances from which he’s scored 52 goals and provided 71 assists, which means he is averaging a goal involvement in every other game.
If United’s new midfield marvel can continue to contribute goals at that rate he’ll rapidly become a crowd favourite amongst the Old Trafford faithful.
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