{"id":674292,"date":"2026-01-05T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T00:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/674292\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T00:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T00:00:18","slug":"matheus-cunha-equaliser-earns-man-utd-a-draw-at-leeds-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/674292\/","title":{"rendered":"Matheus Cunha equaliser earns Man Utd a draw at Leeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Farke\u2019s promoted side came into Sunday lunchtime\u2019s encounter on a six-game unbeaten run but with two days\u2019 less rest than their cross-Pennine enemies.<\/p>\n

Dominic Calvert-Lewin hit the post in the first half and Leeds began to dream of a first Premier League win against their arch-rivals since September 2002 when Aaronson slammed home after the break.<\/p>\n

\"LeedsBrenden Aaronson (left) fires Leeds ahead in the 1-1 draw against Manchester United (Danny Lawson\/PA).<\/p>\n

But that lead lasted just three minutes as freshly introduced substitute Joshua Zirkzee played in Cunha to coolly level and secure the Red Devils a share of the spoils in West Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Leeds, without key men Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu and Jayden Bogle, pushed until the end of a game that represents another missed opportunity for Amorim\u2019s absentee-hit United.<\/p>\n

Cunha saw an effort clip the post late on during an afternoon when Benjamin Sesko wasted several chances in their first fixture of 2026.<\/p>\n

The teams emerged to an ear-splitting atmosphere at Elland Road and play got off to a predictably intense start.<\/p>\n

Manuel Ugarte saw a looping header land on the roof of the net and Cunha had a fine strike ruled out for offside, before Calvert-Lewin drove over under pressure at the other end.<\/p>\n

But the visitors \u2013 who were again without eight first-team absentees \u2013 took the sting out of proceedings as a tense, low-quality opening period unfolded, bringing the volume down several notches in the process.<\/p>\n

\"LeedsLeeds centre-back Jaka Bijol (left) and Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko battle for the ball at Elland Road (Danny Lawson\/PA).<\/p>\n

Fans traded chants as play bumbled along before Leeds went close to taking a 35th-minute lead. Anton Stach whipped a fine curling cross over that Calvert-Lewin stretched to meet with a header that clipped the far post.<\/p>\n

The visitors nearly capitalised on that let-off five minutes later, only for Lucas Perri to brilliantly tip over a close-range Leny Yoro header after Casemiro nodded a corner back across.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Gudmundsson saw a near-post strike saved by Senne Lammens and Ugarte missed the target during an open start to the second half.<\/p>\n

The visiting goalkeeper had to tip over a corner as Leeds pushed for an opener that arrived in the 62nd minute.<\/p>\n

Ayden Heaven\u2019s slight hesitation when Pascal Struijk hooked a hopeful ball forward was capitalised on by Aaronson, who took a touch and continued to fire low past Lammens.<\/p>\n

\"LeedsMatheus Cunha (right) finds the Leeds net for Manchester United but his effort is ruled out for offside (Danny Lawson\/PA).<\/p>\n

Elland Road rocked but that joy only lasted three minutes. Amorim introduced Zirkzee straight after conceding and the substitute\u2019s lovely pass put in Cunha to slip a smart, low shot past Perri.<\/p>\n

That equaliser temporarily put a spring in the visitors\u2019 step, and Lammens\u2019 strong left hand from Noah Okafor\u2019s overhead kick gave them a platform from which to kick on from.<\/p>\n

Sesko blew a glorious chance in the 75th minute after neat interplay ended in a Zirkzee cutback to him, while Cunha saw a dangerous effort from the edge of the box clip an upright.<\/p>\n

Substitute Joel Piroe threatened as Leeds pushed for a winner that evaded them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniel Farke\u2019s promoted side came into Sunday lunchtime\u2019s encounter on a six-game unbeaten run but with two days\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-674292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115839554547594746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}