Christian Eriksen’s lightning start for Tottenham blindsides Manchester United

It was an eccentric night, full of strange sub-plots and a personal ordeal for several Manchester United players, but the most important detail is that Tottenham Hotspur had outplayed, out-thought and out-fought them and that, more than anything, will be the abiding memory of a night when José Mourinho officially gave up the pretence that the title race was still alive.

It was certainly difficult to make total sense of a night when Mourinho abandoned the first half by heading down the tunnel on the 43-minute mark, substituted Paul Pogba with half an hour to go and described his team as “ridiculous” for conceding a goal after 11 seconds. Christian Eriksen’s first touch in a brilliant Spurs performance was not quite the quickest goal of the Premier League era – that record belonging to another Spurs man, Ledley King, for scoring 10 seconds into a game against Bradford City in 2000 – but it is difficult to think there has been another occasion in United’s history when the ball has been in their net before any of their players has managed a single touch.

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from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BHGVtd