Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir took his teammates to a celebratory dinner after successfully defeating Arsenal with a penalty in the third round of the FA Cup.
In a turbulent cup game in north London, Bayindir, who had put in a shaky performance in the first 70 minutes, came back to life as he was tasked with keeping United on level terms in the game. Arsenal were controversially awarded a penalty – referee Andy Madley suspected Harry Maguire had fouled Kai Havertz as the VAR was not on site to intervene – and Martin Odegaard stepped up having never taken a penalty in his senior professional career missed from 12 meters.
Bayindir ended that record by spreading out to the left and clearing the ball before a superb save from Declan Rice took the game into extra time. Eventually a penalty shootout was needed to separate the two rivals, with Bayindir once again the hero, parrying Kai Havertz’s shot.
United scored all five penalties and progressed to the fourth round – the reward was a reunion with Ruud van Nistelrooy, the current Leicester manager – and Bayindir was deservedly named man of the match.
Speaking to club channels, Bayindir’s goalkeeping teammate Andre Onana revealed how Bayindir celebrated the occasion.
“We all congratulated him because he did a fantastic job. We are all proud of him,” Onana noted. “He’s been here for a year and a half, or even longer, and he works hard every day. Now he gets his reward. He deserves it.”
“By the way, he invited us to the restaurant [after the game] because he showed such a beautiful performance. Hopefully he will invite us more, much more, because that means he will continue to play like this!”
Bayindir had only played four games for United before his heroics on Sunday, three of them in this season’s Carabao Cup. Yet United have been linked with signing a new goalkeeper – with Parma’s £40million goalkeeper Zion Suzuki reportedly in the club’s crosshairs.