Amad rescues United from embarrassing Saints defeat, Medvedev out, Collins trolls Open fans
Amad Diallo’s 12-minute hat-trick spares United’s blushes, while US teen Learner Tien stays up way past his bed time to stun Daniil Medvedev
There was a little bit of everything happening overnight, with the Australian Open dragging on until 3am in Melbourne, the Premier League kicking off at 4am in Hong Kong, and LIV Golf making another breakthrough in the US.
At some point the people in charge of the world’s grand slams are going to realise no one wants to be watching or playing tennis past midnight, but that’s not today, so Learner Tien’s stunning win probably didn’t get the eyeballs it deserved.
And any football fans who got up to watch Manchester United’s game against Southampton probably spent most of it wishing they’d stayed in bed. For those of you who did opt for sleep, that’s where we’ll start this look at what happened while you were doing so.
Amad to the rescue
With 85 minutes gone at Old Trafford, Manchester United were facing the rather embarrassing possibility of losing to Southampton, a team who could be the worst in the history of the Premier League.
Then Amad Diallo found his shooting boots, rifled in a hat-trick in the space of 12 minutes, and the threat of a fourth consecutive defeat at home passed in a game United won 3-1, and in which they scored all the goals.
A Manuel Ugarte own goal two minutes from half-time gave Southampton the lead, and the basement dwellers, who dominated for 70 minutes, would have won handsomely if they had anything resembling a striker.
In the day’s other game, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter both scored as Brighton ended a run of eight Premier League games without a win by beating Ipswich Town 2-0 at Portman Road.
A late, late show
Last year’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev was dumped out in the Australian Open second round by 19-year-old qualifier Learner Tien in a massive Melbourne shock at close to 3am 0n Friday.
