Alejandro Garnacho picture from inside Man United tunnel deleted after Chelsea clash

Alejandro Garnacho made a frosty return to Old Trafford on Saturday evening, his first since leaving Manchester United for Chelsea in a £40 million deal last summer. The winger, who had been with United's youth teams since 2020 after transferring from Atletico Madrid, had racked up 144 appearances and netted 26 goals for United before his departure.

His exit was reportedly due to a fallout with manager Ruben Amorim, and upon his return, he was met with boos from the home crowd as he disembarked the team coach and during the pre-match warm-up. Despite being named on the bench for Chelsea, Garnacho's chances of stepping back onto the Old Trafford pitch were reduced when the Blues were reduced to 10 men just five minutes into the game, following the dismissal of goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

This prompted Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca to make two early changes in an attempt to stabilise his side. However, United capitalised on their numerical advantage. Goals from Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro put United 2-0 ahead after 37 minutes, though Casemiro's second yellow card meant that both teams had 10 men for the second half.

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Chelsea managed to pull one back through Trevoh Chalobah with just 10 minutes remaining, but United held firm to secure all three points. Garnacho remained an unused substitute throughout.

While supporters didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for the former United star, it appears Garnacho received a warmer welcome from some of his old teammates.

A since-deleted Instagram snap emerged showing Garnacho with United winger Amad in the Old Trafford tunnel after they'd exchanged shirts. The image was tagged by the lead3rs agency, which looks after both players.

Amad featured for the entire 90 minutes, playing his part in United's crucial triumph. Following the final whistle, Chelsea manager Maresca explained why Garnacho remained on the bench throughout the encounter.

"The reason why we changed Pedro [Neto] and Estevao [Willian] was because they attack with the five players always, and we defend with the four, and we can defend with the four when we are 11 vs 11, but 11 against them," he said.

"I think we need to defend on the width, so we decided to go with the back five. This is the reason why.

"And then the other one, Garna, he was ready to go on, but then Wes [Fofana] asked for the change, because he was tired after a long time, so we changed and we decided to go for Tyrique [George], and the idea was to give Garnacho minutes."

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