Manchester, Nov 4 (IANS) Two second half goals saw Manchester United and Chelsea battle it out for a hard 1-1 draw, in Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s first league game as United interim head coach, at Old Trafford on Sunday.
A brilliant volley from Moises Caicedo earned Chelsea a point at Old Trafford after Bruno Fernandes’ penalty had put Manchester United in front midway through the second half.
Until that moment clear chances had been hard to come by. Noni Madueke hit the outside of the post with a header, while Marcus Rashford also struck the woodwork during a scrappy opening 45 minutes.
The excellent Pedro Neto came close to putting Chelsea ahead as the contest opened up, before Robert Sanchez felled Rasmus Hojlund inside the box. Fernandes made no mistake from 12 yards. The Blues reacted positively to going behind and with just over a quarter-of-an-hour remaining, Caicedo drew the game level with a volley.
The best chance of the first 45 minutes fell to Noni Madueke whose near-post header from a corner hit the outside of the post. Levi Colwill fired the rebound into the side-netting.
It took until ten minutes into the second period for a shot in anger when Palmer played the ball out to Neto who, in a mistake by Dalot, struck the ball past Onana but just wide of the far post.
As the game entered its final quarter, Sanchez was adjudged to have brought Hojlund down as he controlled a diagonal Casemiro pass. Fernandes stepped up and, unlike the corresponding fixture last season, sent Sanchez the wrong way.
Shortly after Cole Palmer’s corner found Casemiro who cleared it towards Caicedo whose volley nestled in the bottom corner beyond Onana’s reach.
IANS
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