Nuno Espirito Santo hailed Anthony Elanga after the “particular” Nottingham Forest winger’s wonder-goal sealed a 1-0 win in opposition to Manchester United on Tuesday.
Elanga sprinted 85 metres in simply 9 seconds in a blistering solo effort that carried him from deep contained in the Forest half to the sting of the United space.
The Swede, who was bought by United in 2023 after being deemed surplus to necessities, capped his electrical surge by drilling a cool end previous Andre Onana to place Forest on target for victory on the Metropolis Floor.
“He is a particular boy and he offers this crew his velocity. He does it by himself and we’re delighted,” Forest boss Nuno stated.
“I feel the sport was going away from us. We needed to undergo. Onerous work, imagine, serving to one another, clearance on the road. It was a really laborious recreation.”
Elanga’s fifth-minute second of magic clinched Forest’s newest eye-catching success in a fairytale season.
Nuno’s crew are sitting third within the Premier League only a 12 months after battling to keep away from relegation.
A spot within the Champions League is inside touching distance, whereas they’ve additionally reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the primary time in 34 years.
“The data, the boys are breaking all of them and at the moment the Metropolis Floor was a part of the sport. We have been in opposition to the ropes. The Metropolis Floor helps us,” Nuno stated.
However requested if he was prepared to consider main Forest to Europe’s elite membership competitors for the primary time since 1980-81, Nuno stated: “Let’s give attention to the subsequent one. It’s day-by-day.”
Elanga’s tempo was the important thing to Forest’s success as they sat deep and hit United on the counter.
“It’s about attacking the house and attending to the alternative purpose as fast as I can,” the 22-year-old stated.
“I noticed the house and I imagine I am one of many quickest gamers within the league. The end is one thing I’ve been attempting to work on.”
‘Togetherness is necessary’
Praising the impression of former Tottenham supervisor Nuno, Elanga added: “The supervisor got here in December final season and we struggled, however he received his concepts throughout in pre-season.
“We now have been in a position to play totally different methods. That togetherness is necessary and it says it on the pitch.”
United supervisor Ruben Amorim admitted his facet’s lack of attacking high quality was the important thing issue of their first defeat in eight video games in all competitions.
“We managed the sport. We tried with good alternatives, however the final move, the final help wasn’t there. Then if we do not have that we can’t rating,” he stated.
“This season is like that. We had a number of pictures on purpose, we pushed the opponent, however within the final third we had an absence of high quality.
“We have to win video games and we deserved extra on this recreation, that’s clear, however it’s our fault and we should be higher within the final third. We must always have received this recreation.”
United are languishing in thirteenth place within the Premier League, with solely the Europa League left to salvage a wretched marketing campaign as they stay up for a quarter-final in opposition to Lyon.
Amorim, who was employed in November to switch the sacked Erik ten Hag, insisted his crew have been making progress regardless of their lowly place.
“I see it within the recreation. I do not deceive myself. Everybody can say no matter they wish to say, however we have to win video games,” he stated.
“We now have Europa League and now we have the subsequent recreation within the Premier League (in opposition to Manchester Metropolis) and that’s the focus.”
