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Football

11th Mar 2017

Manchester United’s Under-18s learned a lesson in over-celebrating before the game is over

United on the receiving end of a late goal for once

Tom Victor

If any set of players should know that a game isn’t over until the final whistle, it’s those in Manchester United’s academy.

While the club’s Under-18s might have only been children at the time, they will surely be familiar with the Red Devils’ reputation for finding the net deep into ‘Fergie-time’.

But that all went to one side during a game against Liverpool, when a late long-range strike from Aidan Barlow gave Kieran McKenna’s team a 2-1 lead over rivals Liverpool.

It was a cracking strike from Barlow – his second of the game – and the 17-year-old midfielder was joined by his teammates in rapturous celebrations after the 85th-minute goal.

https://twitter.com/AlexKunawicz/status/840302564205854722

But you can probably guess what came next – and we’re not just talking about the yellow card handed to substitute Barlow for his celebrations, which United’s official match report claims ‘must have overstepped the mark’.

United’s first team might have form for late, late goals, but this time they were on the receiving end as Louis Longstaff struck at the death to earn Liverpool a point.

The goal was even sweeter for Liverpool when you consider they had been playing with 10 men for more than half the match, after a 30th-minute red card for Adam Lewis.