The goal was unquestionably the greatest of the week and brought back memories of a similar effort by Wayne Rooney, a former United striker.

In the Premier League match on the road against Everton, Manchester United put on a dominant display, crushing them 3-0 on Sunday. Three minutes into the game, winger Alejandro Garnacho scored a stunning overhead goal to set the tone. 

The goal was unquestionably the greatest of the week and brought back memories of a similar effort by Wayne Rooney, a former United striker, in the Manchester derby twelve years prior. Back in 2011, Rooney’s goal had given the Red Devils a 2-1 victory.

Given that Garnacho was facing away from the goalpost, the goal came as a complete surprise. But he was able to connect a deep cross from Diogo Dalot near the byline with a powerful overhead kick that beat Jordan Pickford, the Everton goalie, and found the top corner of the post.

Garnacho’s attempt, which was a little bit further from goal than Rooney’s, equally astounded him. The Argentine international then made his way to the corner flag, where he delighted the Everton supporters with a pirouette celebration a la Cristiano Ronaldo.

Back in 2018, Ronaldo scored a goal akin to this one while representing Real Madrid, the dominant team in Spain, against Juventus in the Champions League. The Juventus supporters were pleased with Ronaldo’s effort when he also scored the goal in an away game.

Although the United manager acknowledged that Garnacho’s attempt might be the season’s best goal, he also stated that it was too soon to be comparing his young player to players like Ronaldo and Rooney.

“The season, still many games to play, but probably already the goal of the season,” Ten Hag told reporters. “It was incredible.” He, however, was uncomfortable comparing Garnacho so quickly with two of the club’s biggest names of recent years.

“Don’t compare,” said the manager, who served a one-game suspension on Sunday and so was not on the touchline.

“I don’t think it’s right. They all have their own identity, but for Garnacho to go that way, he has to work very hard. And you have to do it on a consistent basis. And so far, he’s not.

“But he has definitely high potential to do some amazing things. It is not the first time we saw this. But if you want to be a player like Rooney or Ronaldo, you have to score 20, 25 goals in the Premier League and that’s not easy to get. But potential, he has.”

The Argentine himself, however, was in disbelief that he had scored. “I didn’t see how I scored, I just listened to the crowd and said ‘Oh my god,'” Garnacho stated to NBC. “One of the best goals I’ve scored, I’m very happy.”