There's four seconds left in extra time when Amad Diallo closes Harvey Elliot down at the edge of the Manchester United box. 119:56 reads the time, Manchester United 3 - Liverpool 3 reads the score.

It's been an intense, manic, end-to-end affair that's been defined by a value we don't readily associate with modern football and its obsession with numbers and expected outcomes: risk. Plain, ol' school, "I am a gambler" risk.

United had pressed high and taken the lead early. Liverpool had counter-punched and taken the lead back with two goals in the last three minutes of the first half. They had then controlled most of the second half till Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag chose to embrace the central theme of the match again. Risk.

Which is why he took off Raphael Varane (big, experienced centre-back who's won it all) for Amad (slight forward who's barely seen game time in top tier football). Sure, this meant either Christian Eriksen or Bruno Fernandes would have to play alongside Harry Maguire in defence but in the 85th minute, Ten Hag decided it was time to do a Fergie, and abandon all pretense of shape and structure in search for the goal that he needed to stay alive in the FA Cup. It was even more of a massive risk considering Liverpool's immense counter-attacking threat, especially highlighted in a moment when they fluffed a 5-2 chance with the score still 2-1 in their favour.

The risk was taken, though, and on Amad came. With United pouring forward what had looked an inevitable 1-2 loss became a 2-2 draw. In extra time, Liverpool took the lead in the 15th minute via a deflected Harvey Elliot shot but United drew level just seven minutes later. Amad closing down someone (Darwin Nunez in this instance) had played a pivotal role there too... the close down saw the ball spill out to Scott McTominay, who rolled it perfectly into Marcus Rashford, who finished superbly. 3-3 and by now it was pure chaos on the pitch.

At that point, Manchester United's backline read: Diogo Dalot on the right, Harry Maguire in the middle, Fernandes alongside him... and Antony at left back. With the scores level, and despite the risk of a late-goal-concession increasing every minute, they kept attacking. Liverpool kept attacking back, as Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool are wont to. So when they won a last-minute corner, Liverpool naturally hurled everyone forward. Which is when Amad closed down Elliot.

Alejandro Garnacho looks like he's being kept upright by pure bronco -- that typically Argentine quality Diego Maradona said drove him on. After 120 minutes of non-stop running, though, he still has it in him to take on the ball that's popped up after Amad's challenge, run the length of the pitch, racing away from Alexis McAllister with absurd ease, racing at a furiously backtracking Connor Bradley... and then have the calmness to pass it square to Amad. When the Ivory Coast international gets it, though, he's driven a little wide by the nature of the pass but that does nothing to change what's coming... a touch to get it out of his feet, a step to steady himself against Bradley's desperate challenge and a second touch to pass the ball into the far bottom corner.

The manner in which Old Trafford erupted hadn't been seen for a while. As Fernandes and Rashford would say post-match, this hasn't been the best of seasons at United. They've lacked consistency and more than a few ex-players-turned-pundits have accused them of not turning up for the big games... on Sunday night they did. From Rashford keeping his head after what could have been the costliest miss of the season to Kobbie Mainoo's everywhere-all-at-once act, from Garnacho's running to McTominay's persistence, from Dalot's shift to Andre Onana's calm, from Antony's revival to Amad's aggression (while fasting for Ramadan, it has to be noted) it was a team performance for the ages. And it came against their greatest rivals, a side that's been one of the best teams in Europe for about half-a-decade.

That explosion of noise was pent-up steam from a stadium that has been creaking for so long under the weight of expectations (and non-maintenance) and a fandom that just wanted to see some fight, some risk, some old-school magic. And boy, did they get it on Sunday: at Old Trafford, does it get more old-school than a young forward finishing off a big game via a rapid counterattack in the last minute?

Amad would get sent off in the aftermath for taking off his shirt, a second yellow after he forgot about the fact that he'd been booked already for obstructing a quick free kick earlier. But it won't matter to him -- as much as United have struggled this season, Amad has struggled to find gametime since his transfer to United, and rumours of his dissatisfaction and desperation to move had started picking up pace. That's gone on the backburner now, for these are the kind of moments that make cult heroes.

And so for serving one of those up, for rewarding his manager for choosing risk over all else and for deciding a big match with a bit of magic, Amad Diallo takes our Moment of the Weekend.

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Anirudh Menon

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