-Credit:James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images.
Goalkeeper Altay Bayindir celebrated Manchester United’s FA Cup third round victory over Arsenal by taking his teammates out for dinner, fellow shot-stopper Andre Onana has revealed.
Bayindir was United’s hero of the hour at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, saving Martin Odegaard’s penalty in the second half of regulation time before thwarting Kai Havertz from the spot in the penalty shootout.
United prevailed 5-3 on spot-kicks after taking the contest all the way to a shootout. They were reduced to 10 men with 61 minutes on the clock, losing Diogo Dalot to a second bookable offence.
READ MORE: Manchester United’s best summer signing could be given a new role this week
READ MORE: Manchester United defender will be allowed to leave after gruelling 517-day absence
Arsenal pounced on that numerical advantage immediately, cancelling out Bruno Fernandes’ opener two minutes after Dalot’s dismissal through Gabriel’s deflected effort, and then had the chance to flip the tie on its head when Odegaard was given the chance to put them in front from the penalty spot.
However, Bayindir got down quickly to his left to deny the Norway international. He then kept out Havertz’s effort in the shootout as United dispatched each of their five penalties to progress to the fourth round.
Having faced such heavy criticism after his performance against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup in December, it was the perfect response from Bayindir, who celebrated by taking his teammates out after the game.
“We all congratulated him because he did a fantastic job,” said Onana. “We are all proud of him.
“He’s here for a year and a half, or even more, and he’s working hard every day. Now he gets his reward. He deserves it.
“He invited us, by the way, to the restaurant [after the game] because he had such a nice performance. Hopefully he’s going to invite us more, much more, because that means he will continue playing like this.”