Manchester United star Joshua Zirkzee sent two brilliant messages after their huge 2-0 win over Manchester City, despite being ruled out of that game through injury.
Joshua Zirkzee has delivered a perfect response following Manchester United’s resounding victory over local rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford. Bryan Mbeumo, who was making his return from AFCON, put the hosts deservedly ahead after 65 minutes, with Patrick Dorgu quickly adding a second to secure the win.
Mason Mount, who came on for Bruno Fernandes in the final stages, thought he had netted a third goal, but it was disallowed for offside after a VAR review. Matheus Cunha had supplied that pass into Mount, having earlier assisted Dorgu’s goal.
Along with Mbeumo, Amad was also back from AFCON and he went straight into the starting line-up, resulting in Cunha and Benjamin Sesko being dropped down to the subs bench. The latter didn’t even make it on to the pitch – with Mbeumo being utilised as the ‘false 9’ by Michael Carrick.
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Zirkzee might have been expected to join them on the bench, but he was absent from the squad entirely amid January transfer speculation. However, BBC Sport reported that United sources confirmed his absence was due to an injury, not related to ongoing transfer rumours.
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Roma have been linked to signing him in several transfer windows, but he remained at the club even after being left out of multiple squads under Ruben Amorim. He was handed minutes around the Christmas period after injuries to others but has been back on the fringes as of late.
Despite this, the 24-year-old was still present at Old Trafford and he celebrated the goals enthusiastically, both at the time and with a rather explicit message on social media. Sharing United’s full-time update on his Instagram story, Zirkzee wrote: “F****** get in! ! ! !”.
Zirkzee also shared a photo of himself – alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Tom Heaton – celebrating in the stands, accompanied by three laughing emojis. He also paid tribute to Casemiro, who received the player of the match award.
The win temporarily lifted United to fourth place in the table, although Liverpool overtook them later on, despite managing only a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Burnley.
Both sides have struggled with consistency this season – but Carrick is determined to ensure such performances become standard under his leadership.
He said: “That’s the challenge, ultimately, and I think it needs to be a version of normal. Certainly, we’re not going to have games with the emotion and the feeling of everything that today brought.
“I think we all understand that, but there’s definitely levels of standards and expectations that we need to live up to from ourselves as much as anyone on the outside. I’m fairly aware of that.
“Consistency is the key to any success, and if you can find that then you’re on to a winner. So that’s our challenge, we’ve got to find a way of doing that.
“It’s a big one next week obviously, another tough one, but on the back of today we’ve got a good foundation to build on.”
Zirkzee will be hoping for significant playing time under Carrick – although it appears doubtful, given his potential injury, the limited fixture schedule and the number of other attacking options available to the club.
