Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves rave over Man Utd star after Young Boys draw

In pictures: Man Utd v Young Boys

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Former Manchester United players Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves have heaped praise on Mason Greenwood after he scored against Young Boys on Wednesday night. Greenwood netted United’s only goal as they finished their Champions League group stage campaign with a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

Ralf Rangnick made 11 changes to the side which beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in the German’s first game in charge on the weekend.

Greenwood was given the chance to lead the line in place of Cristiano Ronaldo and he didn’t disappoint, producing a wonderful opening goal.

The 20-year-old striker adjusted quickly to Luke Shaw’s cross, which was slightly behind him, to acrobatically volley into the bottom corner.

The lead didn’t last, with Fabian Rieder pouncing on a sloppy pass from Donny van de Beek to curl in a stunning equaliser before half-time.

Both teams had chances to win it in the second half but a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept the scores level.

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Rangnick used the match as a chance to look at several of United’s young guns, but Hargreaves was in no doubt that Greenwood was the star of the show.

“He’s pretty special,” he said on BT Sport.

“There’s a lot of players out there that have cost a lot of money that have been brought from other teams. Mason is through the academy and he’s probably the most talented one.

“Ralf gets to see him in a live setting and see him score a goal like that. He’s one of the best finishers at the club, can play multiple positions, he’s good on the ball.

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“People always talk about his finishing, but ability to use the ball [and] receive the ball doesn’t get enough credit.

“I think he’s going to be one of those who will be in the starting XI soon.”

Ferdinand was in complete agreement and was at pains to point out that Greenwood has the all-round game, not just eye-catching finishing ability.

“I love him. There’s not enough words for me to describe what I feel about this boy as a player. Seriously because he’s a beautiful footballer,” he said.

“When he came into the team everyone spoke about his finishing because that’s what you see straight away, but when you actually break his game down he’s so efficient in what he does.

“Receiving the ball, his body angles, his movement to receive the balls and what I like about him is very rarely do you see him get tackled.

“A lot of young players on that pitch got tackled today. There were a lot of turnovers, but he’s very elusive with the ball. He takes the ball away from defenders.

“There are so many things you can love about his game. Yes, there are things to work on. He’s a young kid who is inevitable but the ceiling for this kid is so high.”

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