Managerless Manchester United gave Leicester City a Ruud awakening with a five star show at Old Trafford.
In his first game as caretaker boss, Ruud van Nistelrooy helped United make sure Erik ten Hag will not be missed. Because these might have been the same players, but the performance, energy and application from them was so very different.
Most breakups are painful. But the night couldn’t have been more comfortable for Van Nistelrooy and United, who booked their place in the League Cup quarter finals at a canter.
United scored four goals in the first half for the first time since 2020, thanks to Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho and Casemiro’s brace. Fernandes added a fifth after the break to render Leicester goals from Bilal El Khannouss and Conor Coady meaningless.
If this was to be Van Nistelrooy’s one and only game in charge, he seemed determined to make the most of it. And despite making four changes, he named a strong looking side which included the likes of Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Casemiro.
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The visitors, meanwhile, made wholesale changes. Nine in total – and would live to regret it. Before sending out his side, Van Nistelrooy had demanded passion and attacking football in a rousing team-talk.
And it looked like they had listened. United could have made the perfect start inside seven minutes when Coady’s slip allowed Joshua Zirkzee to run onto Matthijs de Ligt’s long ball forward.
But Zirkzee took too long to make up his mind up what to do, and found himself crowded out as Leicester scrambled back. Van Nistelrooy might be knocking on the door of 50, but he could still have done a better job at finishing than Zirkzee managed.
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But then Casemiro opened the scoring with the kind of goal the Dutchman would have been proud to call his own. Picking the ball up 25 yards from goal, the Brazilian took one look up before curling a stunning strike into the top corner.
Van Nistelrooy raised both fists to the skies in celebration. Rashford tried to emulate Casemiro with a free kick from a similar spot, but crashed his effort into the wall.
Van Nistelrooy was clenching his fists again on 27 minutes when Diogo Dalot broke clear down the right and picked out Garnacho, who had the simplest of finishes to double United’s lead.
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This might have been Leicester reserves, but few inside Old Trafford were complaining considering the dross that had been served up in recent months.
The smiles briefly turned to frowns when Leicester pulled one back five minutes later, El Khannouss drilling an angled strike into the bottom corner after United had failed to clear a cross. But United continued to rip Leicester to pieces at the opposite end. The fallen giants were fun to watch again.
Fernandes restored United’s two goal cushion with a deflected free kick, before Casemiro added his second of the night from close range soon after. It was turning into a massacre before half time.
Coady pulled one back to give Leicester a lifeline, and remind United there was still work to do. But Fernandes completed the rout on the hour mark – to make it a night to remember for a change, instead of one to forget.