Why Fernandes‘ Goal Against Brighton Was Better Than Ronaldo’s Goal Against Arsenal

By Naveen Kelvin | July 2, 2020

Reuters/Carl Recine

Manchester United fans will still be absolutely delighted at the manner in which their side bested Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 on Tuesday.

The encounter was arguably one of the finest of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as the Red Devils had the look of a side who were adamant to go on and regain their lost brilliance.

A brace from Bruno Fernandes set the precedent for the night following Mason Greenwood’s clean opener.

However, the moment from the game that would be plastered onto the memory of fans is the absolutely brilliant piece of counter-attacking football that led to Fernandes’ second goal.

Fans loved the effort and to Gary Neville, amidst others, the counter-attacking was reminiscent of the football that United played back in 2009. In particular, an excellent goal involving Wayne Rooney, Ji Sung Park, and Cristiano Ronaldo became the mode of comparison and the uncanny similarity was certainly out there.

Now, the Athletic have crunched the numbers and an argument can certainly be made as to why last night’s goal was a better affair than the Champions League one against Arsenal.

In particular, it is the sheer speeds involved in the two that have made all the difference.

Two goals from Ronaldo and Rooney from back in 2009 and 2010 were compared and it was determined that the Brighton counter-attack was simply a quicker feat of football.

While the seconds involved do make a difference, fans will be more excited by the fact that such a rapid moment of counter-attacking hasn’t been the norm at United for quite a while now. As such, this effort will be lauded even further and expectations will certainly be high as to whether such moments can be aped in the games to come.