Aston Villa completed a remarkable second half comeback to deny Manchester United all three points at Villa Park. The Midlands club were down 2-0 at the halfway point in the second half, and fought back to equalise.
But the major talking point from the game was the debut of Philippe Coutinho for his new club. The Brazilian made a loan move from Barcelona in search of more game time, and found exactly that under his former teammate, Steven Gerrard.
Philippe Coutinho scores on his Aston Villa debut
With Aston Villa down 2-0, Coutinho was subbed on in the 68th minute and he immediately made his mark. The player first set up starlet Jacob Ramsey for their first goal, before getting onto the scoresheet himself.
In the cameo made by the Brazilian, we briefly saw what made him so popular at Liverpool. His dribbling and passing skills seemed to have been revived, and he returned to haunt his old rivals United with a comeback.
Lucas Digne would also make his debut for Villa, earning a start against the Red Devils.
Manchester United were on the front foot during the first half, and were given an early lead thanks to a rare mistake from Emi Martinez. Bruno Fernandes would complete his double later in the game, but it wasn’t enough to take all three points.
While the first half saw Manchester United at the peak of their abilities, the second half saw them collapse completely, pegged by the Villa attack. There is still a lot of work to do for Ralf Rangnick if he hopes to turn things around for the Red Devils, because the current situation isn’t good enough.
