After scoring twice in Manchester United’s comeback victory over Aston Villa on Boxing Day, Alejandro Garnacho set a new record in a specific category of the Premier League.

After Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a 25% stake in the club, United won their first game back at Old Trafford against a high-flying Aston Villa, an improbable 3-0 victory. John McGinn and Leander Dendoncker put the away team up 2-0 in the first half, but Rasmus Hojlund scored his first Premier League goal and a brace from Garnacho made it 3-2. This meant that Garnacho surpassed Michael Owen, who had been the youngest player to score two goals or more on Boxing Day in the Premier League (20 years and 12 days against Newcastle in 1999), becoming the youngest player to do so (19 years and 178 days).

United were destined for yet another humiliating loss after their 2-0 setback to West Ham in their previous match, but Garnacho ignited a remarkable and improbable comeback for the Red Devils. The result moves them up to sixth place in the league, while Villa lost out on a chance to take second place; nevertheless, this may just postpone Erik ten Hag’s managerial future.

The summer acquisition Hojlund finally found the back of the net after playing 1,000 minutes in the Premier League. This was just his sixth goal in 23 appearances in all competitions since joining United from Serie A club Atalanta in the summer for £64 million ($81.4m).

On December 30, following the triumph, Manchester United will travel to Nottingham Forest to close out 2023, while Unai Emery’s Burnley will visit a Burnley club that is in dаnger of relegation. A week or two later, both clubs will be competing in the FA Cup.