Erik ten Hag reveals what he told Alejandro Garnacho before Manchester United winner

Alejandro Garnacho emerged as Manchester United’s brilliant winner on Wednesday evening, with a 90th-minute winning goal sending the club through to the FA Cup quarter-finals at the expense of West Ham.

Erik ten Hag opted for six changes to the starting XI that brought home Manchester United‘s first domestic trophies in six years, winning the Carabao Cup last Sunday, with Alejandro Garnacho starting on the left in place of Marcus Rashford.

After initially going 1-0 down, United clawed back to a 3-1 victory at Old Trafford, with Garnacho’s beautiful curling strike clutching the fixture.

After his side initially went a goal down, Ten Hag opted to make two vital changes, bringing on Rashford and Lisandro Martinez in place of Antony and Victor Lindelof, with many surprised that he opted to keep Garnacho on instead of Antony.

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His decision was validated though by the time the full-time whistle blew, further proving once again how brilliant Ten Hag is at impacting the game through the utilisation of United’s bench.

This season has been the breakout season for Garnacho, with Ten Hag having full faith in the young winger’s abilities. Speaking to MUTV after the fixture, the Dutch manager explained what he told Garnaho before he started in the tie.

“I said to him before the game ‘You show you can come on as a sub and have an impact, now you have to show as a starter you can have an impact’,” he said. “I think he showed that today.”

Garnacho has received a lot of praise not just from Ten Hag, but also from his fellow teammates. Fred made a very bold prediction about Garnacho on Wednesday evening, saying he thinks the young winger can become one of the best players in the world.

“Garnacho had a very good game today, with a good goal,” he told MUTV. “He’s already a nice player, a young player and he will be one of the best players in the world, for sure, but today he played well and he needs to keep going.”

Garnacho is certainly giving Ten Hag a headache, but it’s one of the best headaches a manager can wish to have: there is becoming an increasing overload of talented players in the same position.

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Ten Hag has always stressed the importance of having two quality options in every position, and for now, that left-wing position certainly has it. Both Rashford and Garnacho are shining in that position, while other options such as Jadon Sancho have shown their ability to excel in that area, too.