Manchester United show spirit of youth in seven-goal thriller but Brentford continue fine form
Brentford 4-3 Manchester United: The visitors’ youngest ever Premier League line-up threatened a comeback but Kevin Schade’s double proved just enough for Brentford
Kevin Schade was at the double as Brentford beat Manchester United 4-3 in a seven-goal Premier League thriller to keep them in the hunt for European qualification.
United failed to replicate their impressive 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the week, despite Mason Mount's first goal of the season giving their much-changed team the lead at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday.
Luke Shaw's own-goal and Schade's first before half-time turned things around before the German forward, who scored in Brentford's 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Thursday, grabbed his second after the break.
Yoane Wissa's 18th goal of the season came made it 4-1 before two excellent strikes by Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo set up a tense finish.
United boss Ruben Amorim made eight changes following Thursday's Europa League triumph and his team were on the back foot early on, with Schade at the heart of the Bees' attacks.
The forward's relentless pressure forced Shaw and goalkeeper Altay Bayindir into a mix-up, with the left-back almost nodding the ball into his own net, before Schade got on the end of a Bryan Mbeumo cross and blasted his effort over the bar.
However, the visitors struck the first blow in the 14th minute. Garnacho ran down the left and his ball across the box was guided in by Mount.
It was 1-1 in the 27th minute when a long throw allowed Mikkel Damsgaard to connect with a loose ball, with his attempt cannoning off Shaw and into the net.
Brentford were in the ascendancy and there was some controversy around their second goal six minutes later. Matthijs de Ligt went down injured and the hosts chose to continue their attack and not kick the ball out of play, with Schade heading home Christian Norgaard's delivery from close range.
Mbeumo's deliveries had been impressive all afternoon and in the 70th minute he whipped a ball onto the head of the unmarked Schade for a goal which made it 3-1 with 20 minutes to go.
The contest appeared over four minutes later when a classy reverse pass by Mathias Jensen to Michael Kayode in the area caught out the United defence, giving the right-back the space to square the ball for Wissa to tap in Brentford's fourth.
Garnacho's 82nd-minute curled strike and Amad's goal in stoppage-time made the closing stages interesting but United could not find an equaliser.
PA
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