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DEVIL IN THE DETAIL

Fans praise never-before-seen Aston Villa tactic that left Man Utd keeper Onana ‘so distracted’ before conceding

Leon Bailey played a key role in the goal despite running away from the action

FANS have praised Aston Villa's never-before-seen goal that led to the opener against Manchester United.

John McGinn scored straight from a long-distanced free-kick at Old Trafford but it was the movement by Leon Bailey that caught the attention.

Leon Bailey appeared to distract Andre Onana
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Leon Bailey appeared to distract Andre OnanaCredit: AFP
As a result Aston Villa took the lead from a free-kick
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As a result Aston Villa took the lead from a free-kickCredit: Getty

The Villa forward stood behind Onana as McGinn lined up his set-piece in the 21st minute.

As the Scotsman ran up to kick the ball, Bailey ran away, which appeared to distract Onana.

In one picture, Bailey looks like he is saying something to the Manchester United goalkeeper.

The ball then came in, missing all the on-running players and bounced past Onana and into the goal.

There was a VAR check but no offside was found and the goal was given.

Fans loved seeing the ingenuity behind the goal as they flocked to social media.

One supporter posted: "Within 20 seconds I went from thinking Bailey had completely lost it to thinking he was a genius."

A second wrote: "Next level mind games from Bailey."

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A third commented: "Bailey’s mind games got to Onana."

A fourth said: "Never seen this idea before, great stuff."

Another added: "They put Bailey there to distract Onana and it actually worked."

The visitors quickly made it two as Leander Dendoncker fired home just five minutes later.

At half-time, Eniola Aluko blamed Onana for letting the goal in.

She told Amazon Prime: "There is a lot going on, but the minute the ball bounces he should have come for it."

The goal gave Aston Villa the lead in the Premier League fixture at Old Trafford.

Patrice Evra however maintain that United had been the better team and could go on to win if they were more clinical.

And the Frenchman was right as Alejandro Granacho netted a brace and Rasmus Hojlund ended his Premier League goal drought to win the game for United.

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