Hat-trick hero Amad reflects on “best week of his life” as he singlehandedly carries Manchester United to victory.
Hat-trick hero Amad revels on his effective and industrious attitude to take Manchester United to a hard-fought 3-1 win vs bottom-placed Southampton.
The social media crew for Manchester United almost gave up.
On match nights, every Premier League club has a strong desire to engage with their fans.
However, there doesn’t always seem to be much of a purpose.
About ten minutes after the final whistle blew in United’s 3-1 victory over Southampton, the message read, “Probably an obvious winner but the poll’s open anyway.”
Like everyone else in the crowd, they were aware of the man of the match.
At that moment, Amad Diallo had not yet left the pitch. The Ivorian grabbed the match ball, acknowledged the cheers of all four Old Trafford teams, and was dragged to the portable broadcast table that was swiftly set up on the pitch to discuss his historic accomplishment. He equalised eight minutes from the end of a lacklustre performance before scoring twice in stoppage time to give United the victory.
“In football you have to believe,” the 22-year-old began.
It was the game, he said. He might have been discussing his whole tenure at United.
Diallo had made 12 starts since joining the team from Atalanta in 2021 before Erik ten Hag was fired on October 28, 2024. He had been on loan at Rangers and Sunderland for eighteen months, and since his contract was set to expire at the end of the current campaign, there was no clear chance that it would be extended beyond triggering the option, which would have prevented him from leaving for free.
The way Diallo’s world has changed.
Since Ten Hag’s departure, he has started 12 games, first for Ruud van Nistelrooy and later for Ruben Amorim. He has scored eight goals, including a late draw at Liverpool, a late winner at Manchester City, and now a 12-minute hat-trick in the final minutes of a home game against Southampton, which was on the verge of turning into a humiliating loss.
A new five-and-a-half-year deal has also been signed by him.
“[It is] maybe one of the best weeks in my life,” Diallo told TNT after scoring his first senior hat-trick.
“We believed until the end and are happy to win this game. We drew with Arsenal and Liverpool so the confidence was there.”
Diallo was referring to United’s two prior victories, which Amorim acknowledged prior to the match had involved a counterattacking strategy that United was unable to use at Old Trafford against a team that had only won once in the league and was positioned last in the standings.
However, as the clock ran out on a performance as bad as any since he left Sporting to try to clean up the mess United had become, Amorim’s worries were in danger of becoming a terrible reality.
Diallo has answered Amorin’s challenge to his team better than any other player.
Diallo has five Premier League goals and five assists since the beginning of November, more than just Mohamed Salah (20) and Alexander Isak (17).
Amorim isn’t going to lose his cool over the performance.
Understanding that young players may receive a lot of praise with little effort, the United head coach is committed to keeping Diallo employed.
“I didn’t say anything to him,” said Amorim. “I will tell him tomorrow he has to rest, eat good food and be ready for Sunday [against Brighton] when we need him again.
“He is having a very good season. Congratulations to him. I hope he enjoys tonight because he needs to appreciate these moments.
“But we have to be careful with young kids. This game is in the past.”