Marca: “Casemiro never expected what happened to him against Burnley when he signed for Manchester United”
Manchester United’s signing with Casemiro for 70 million euros was one of the most prominent transfer deals last summer. However, his arrival coincided with the brilliance of Erik ten Hag’s midfielders. Hence, he watched his first four Premier League matches from the bench.
He made his debut as a league player and provided an amazing assist for Cristiano Ronaldo against Everton (1-2), and since then, he has been a regular in the formation. He even scored his first goal against Chelsea before the Qatar World Cup.
However, when he moved from Real Madrid, he did not expect the big change that occurred in his position in the League Cup round of 16 match against Burnley, which ended in a victory for the Devils (2-0).
The absences because of the World Cup forced Ten Hag to put Casemiro as a center-back position and he performed well as he was solid in defense, and succeeded in building the play from behind … until, after half an hour, he managed to save his own goal from Dubravka alone.
The local newspaper “Manchester Evening News” commented on Casemiro’s performance in the new position against Burnley: “He has placed himself in the center-back in an impressive way. The fact that he played in the back did not prevent him from searching for insightful passes for the midfielders.” It also gave him a rating of 7 out of 10, which is the highest rating among the “Red Devils” players in the match.
Erik ten Hag was more than satisfied and commented after the match: “He did what you could expect from him. He is a very experienced player and he was very special. He led the team from behind and had a great symbiosis with Lindelof. I am very happy with his performance.”
And Casemiro wrote on “Instagram”: “You played well, guys.” De Gea replied, “A good center-back”
The stats support his strong performance. Casemiro was the player with the most plays (126) and assists (90). Fifteen of them made it to the last third of the opponent’s field.
It feels like an experiment, but the centre-backs in the squad have to be careful…
Source: Marca
