Mainoo magic gives Man Utd dramatic win in seven-goal thriller

Manchester United academy graduate Kobbie Mainoo scored a stunning winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time as Manchester United edged a seven-goal thriller at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Man Utd raced into a 2-0 lead in the opening 22 minutes through Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund, and then missed good chances to extend their lead.

Pablo Sarabia’s 71st-minute penalty gave Wolves hope and, although Scott McTominay scored two minutes after coming off the bench to put Man Utd 3-1 up, Max Kilman made it 3-2 in the 85th minute and Pedro Neto completed an incredible comeback in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

But Mainoo had the last final say two minutes later as he curled in a wonderful strike from the edge of the box, taking Man Utd up to seventh, a point behind West Ham United.

Man Utd made the perfect start as Rashford curled the ball past Jose Sa from the edge of the box in the fifth minute for his third goal in as many Premier League matches.

Seventeen minutes later Hojlund scored for a second successive league match as he slid in to meet Luke Shaw’s low cross at close range.

Man Utd could have been out of sight by half-time as Casemiro headed wide from a free-kick and both Hojlund and Casemiro had goals ruled out for offside. Hojlund was then denied by Sa in the 55th minute.

But Wolves hit back in the final 20 minutes. Neto won a penalty following a challenge from Casemiro, and substitute Sarabia scored from the spot eight minutes after his introduction.

McTominay made an even quicker impact off the bench, scoring just two minutes of coming on as he headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ corner, and it appeared that Man Utd were comfortable again.

But Wolves refused to give up and got another goal back with five minutes to go through Kilman. Man Utd failed to clear a corner and Craig Dawson’s acrobatic attempt towards goal was turned in by his defensive partner.

Halfway through the nine minutes of additional time given, Wolves equalised as Neto finished off a sweeping counter-attack with a left-footed strike into the bottom-right corner, leaving Andre Onana wrong-footed in the middle of his goal.

But there was still time for Mainoo to seize the moment and become the hero. Wriggling out of a tight spot on the left side and nutmegging Kilman, the 18-year-old midfielder slalomed his way to the edge of the box and coolly whipped a low curling finish into the bottom-right corner to send the away fans into delirium.

The goal was assisted by 19-year-old Omari Forson, who was making his first Premier League appearance.

Wolves’ first loss of 2024 leaves them 11th on 29 points.

See: Wolves report | Man Utd report

Four of the last five 90th minute winning goals in the Premier League by players aged 18 or younger have been for Manchester United: Federico Macheda (April 2009 vs Aston Villa), Marcus Rashford (August 2016 vs Hull), Alejandro Garnacho (November 2022 vs Fulham) and Kobbie Mainoo (February 2024 vs Wolves).

Rasmus Højlund has now both scored and assisted in each of his last two Premier League appearances – at the age of 20 years and 362 days, he is the youngest Manchester United player to achieve this, with Cristiano Ronaldo the previous youngest, aged 21 in 2007.

Gary O’Neil has lost all four of his Premier League managerial matches against Manchester United (two with Bournemouth, two with Wolves). He has lost more Premier League games against the Red Devils than any other team.

Wolves suffered their first home Premier League defeat since losing 3-1 to Liverpool in September, ending a run of eight successive unbeaten games at Molineux.