Jesse Lingard was United’s saviour on Boxing Day, as the half-time substitute scored twice to cancel out a shock advantage gleaned for Burnley by Ashley Barnes’s second-minute opener and Steven Defour’s free-kick.
Lingard pulled the first goal back with a clever backheeled finish from a low Ashley Young cross in the 53rd minute but the Reds were made to wait until injury time for his point-saving second strike, a low finish arrowed into the net after the Clarets failed to clear a corner.
Jose Mourinho insisted he was happy with his side’s reaction after Manchester United fought from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw with Burnley at Old Trafford.
“We should have won, yes,” Mourinho told Match of the Day . “I take satisfaction by the way the team played, by the way the team reacted, to try to recover from 2-0 down.
“The boys they fought against the 2-0 at half-time, so nothing at all negative to say about my players. I praise their spirit, their reaction, the way they accept all the risks we took in the second half.”
“For us to score two goals we need to play in their half for 45 minutes, with only one defender – The end product of so much dominance – two goals, is a miserable number.
“Lingard come in and helped the team, Lingard and Mkhitaryan gave us a good dynamic.
“All the boys accepted the risk to only play with [only] Jones [in defence]. All the boys accepted the risk that we took, at least the point is not a defeat and is the minimum the boys deserve for such spirit.”
