Diogo Dalot has dedicated Manchester United’s 2-1 win against Sheffield United to the late Sir Bobby Charlton.
The football world was left in mourning on Saturday afternoon following the death of Chartlon and Erik ten Hag, speaking ahead of kick-off at Bramall Lane, urged his players to secure a result in his memory.
Scott McTominay also said ‘we have to do it for Sir Bobby’ before the match and it was therefore fitting that it was the midfielder who opened the scoring in the 28th minute, although it didn’t take long for Sheffield United to equalise.
Just a few minutes after United took the lead, McTominay conceded a penalty when a cross struck his arm and Oli McBurnie obliged with an excellent penalty from the spot, with Andre Onana helpless despite going the right way.
United weren’t at their best on the night, but they improved in the second half and their spell of dominance was rewarded when Diogo Dalot found the top right corner from the edge of the box to win the match.
It was an important victory for United, albeit another unconvincing performance and Dalot spoke to MUTV after the final whistle.
“I could see the ‘keeper’s hand getting close, so I thought he might save it, but when the ball goes in, the feeling of seeing the fans behind the goal celebrating, I think it was a fantastic moment,” Dalot said.
“I take this opportunity to dedicate this win to Sir Bobby and his family. It was a very sad day for the club, but I think we contributed the best we could, which was to win the game and secure three points.
“I think in these moments, when everything seems to be said, we have to find a way to see happiness and I hope with this win today, we could give some joy to the family.
“We could see during the season, teams come here and always have a tight, difficult game. The atmosphere is amazing actually, it’s my first time here since playing for the club. It was a good game to play, a proper English game.
“I think this is how fans love to see games here in England and we have to find a way to win when we don’t play good football. Sometimes we are not right tactically and in the first half, we took longer than we should have to set up.
“When we came to half-time, the manager told us what to do and we did it better in the second half.”
Dalot added: “This is what brings us confidence, is winning games at this club. This is the standard. We need the three points no matter what on Tuesday [Copenhagen] and I hope the fans, like always, will be there with us.”