Romero voted Man of the Match v Rostov
Sergio Romero played a crucial role in Manchester United’s 1-0 win over FC Rostov on Thursday night, convincing fans on Twitter to vote him the Reds' Man of the Match.
Romero was one of three players nominated for the award by former United manager and MUTV pundit Ron Atkinson, along with Antonio Valencia and goalscorer Juan Mata. Yet the goalkeeper’s heroics saw him rise above his team-mates after earning 58 per cent of votes cast by followers of @ManUtd.
The Argentina international started instead of David De Gea and impressed observers, particularly when making three excellent second-half saves that helped secure progress to the Europa League quarter-finals.
That trio of eye-catching contributions began shortly after the half-time break when denying the lively Sardar Azmoun, before making a smart save to frustrate substitute Aleksandr Bukarov on 80 minutes.
Romero arguably reserved the best until last, though, when stopping Christian Noboa’s free-kick with a diving as the ball flew towards the top corner in what proved to be the final kick of the match.
Speaking about his last-minute heroics, the 30-year-old later told MUTV: “It was a difficult free-kick to save. I saw it quite late because the wall jumped, so I just went to try to save it and suddenly I realised this could just creep inside the crossbar, but I thankfully managed to save it.”
Sergio also noted the importance of the last-second save, because a Rostov goal would have sent the tie into a period of extra time at Old Trafford. “They couldn’t get the chance to score the goal that would have evened it up and sent the game into extra time,” said Romero. “I was relieved that the corner wasn’t allowed to come in because the referee had blown the whistle for full-time.”
Congratulations to Sergio on the award and an impressive performance.
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