Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir took his teammates out to a celebratory dinner after his penalty heroics saw off Arsenal in the FA Cup third round.
A barnstorming cup tie in north London saw Bayindir, who had a shaky opening 70 minutes, come alive when tasked with keeping United level in the tie. Arsenal were controversially awarded a penalty – Harry Maguire deemed to have fouled Kai Havertz by referee Andy Madley with VAR not in place to intervene – and Martin Odegaard stepped up having never missed from 12 yards in his senior professional career.
Bayindir ended that record by sprawling to his left, palming the ball away, before a superb point-blank save from Declan Rice took the game into extra-time. A penalty shootout was eventually needed to separate the two rivals, with Bayindir again the hero as saved Kai Havertz’s effort.
United scored all five of their penalties to advance into the fourth round – a reunion with Ruud van Nistelrooy, now Leicester’s manager, the reward – and Bayindir was deservedly named player of the match.
Speaking to club channels, Bayindir’s goalkeeping teammate Andre Onana has revealed how Bayindir celebrated the occasion.
“We all congratulated him because he did a fantastic job. We are all proud of him,” Onana remarked. “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!”
Bayindir had only played four games for United prior to his Sunday heroics, with three of those showings coming in this season’s Carabao Cup. Nevertheless, United have been linked with signing a new goalkeeper – Parma’s £40m-rated Zion Suzuki supposedly in the club’s crosshairs.
