Manchester United Ran Riot: Rashford, Garnacho, and Eriksen Share The Spotlight in 7-0 Rout Over Barnsley in Carabao Cup

Manchester United went for a win with all guns blazing in the Carabao Cup, going all out to thrash Barnsley 7-0 at Old Trafford. Rashford was able to score two individual goals as did Alejandro Garnacho, with Christian Eriksen also scoring twice while Antony scored a penalty.

Aston Villa and Liverpool were at it, battling each other in the Champions League, but Manchester United seemed a world away from their tussles against a fairly unknown but far from convincing League One adversary Barnsley as they launched their bid for a third trophy under Erik ten Hag.

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Ardfern, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

As early as the first whistle, Manchester United indicated their superiorty in the match and took the game with such a landslide win. At this point, it is the biggest win for Ten Hag, who was appointed coach of the team in 2022. His biggest wins were 4-1 against Real Betis in the Europa League and Chelsea in the Premier League.

United handed two debuts as summer signing Manuel Ugarte and academy boy Toby Collyer started together. Collyer was an unconventional left-back, having captained the Under-21s to victory over Barnsley just a month beforehand. Under pressure from Barnsley, Collyer turned over a few free-kicks but could do little as Barnsley could not capitalize on them.

Barnsley, with supporters making their voices heard from afar, was fighting a losing battle against a far superior Manchester United side. Matters did not improve in the 16th minute when Rashford, who had been foiled several times earlier, received a diagonal pass from Garnacho. He swerved past Marc Roberts and hit an accurate shot at the back of the net.

Manchester United’s dominance continued as the referee gave a spot-kick award when Gabriel Slonina had tripped Antony in the box. Antony scored the spot-kick with a stumbling approach and very powerful finish, thereby making it beyond Slonina’s reach in the 35th minute.

In first-half stoppage time, Red Devils increased their advantage when Garnacho reacted sharply to a lost ball. In the 49th minute, a second goal from him followed a very smart pass by Eriksen as Garnacho sent the ball soothingly across Slonina.

Rashford, seeing the free-kick saved, soon thereafter regained his touch in the 58th minute to get down a play set up by Garnacho. With the tie sealed in the fourth round, Ten Hag began to rotate his squad.

Antony had a shot knocked over the bar, and Garnacho’s attempt for a hat-trick was turned away. After Luca Connell’s effort for Barnsley was saved, Manchester United put away a sixth goal. Garnacho picked up the ball and dropped it to Bruno Fernandes for Eriksen to translate cross to convert in the 81 ^{st} minute. Then four minutes later on, Eriksen scored his second of the night when Fernandes ran across him for a very precise finish from within the box.

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