Eldin Jakupovic does not have what you would call a household name.
But the Hull City goalkeeper came out on top against some of the biggest superstars in world football when he dutifully served as the last line of defence for an unfancied Tigers side at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening.
Only one team (Swansea) has conceded more goals in the league this term than Hull but their stopper resolved to keep a clean sheet at the Theatre of Dreams, and came up with the goods.
Manchester United’s clearest chance at goal came in the 73rd minute when a nodded ball across the six yard box landed at the favoured left foot of midfielder Juan Mata.
It looked destined to nestle in the back of the net but Jakupovic was in inspired form and got a leg in the way.
Less than 10 mins for Man Utd to find a way past this man in the Hull goal.
What a game he's had 👏 https://t.co/HtwBIXMAL5 pic.twitter.com/gyHhQXgloM
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 1, 2017
What looked like something of a guaranteed victory ahead of kick-off turned into two points dropped for Jose Mourinho’s side as a lack of composure in front of goal came back to haunt them.
Usually United’s most reliable source of goals, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a night to forget but, rather than praise Hull’s ‘keeper for some stunning saves, the outspoken centre-forward accused Jakupovic of needlessly showing off for the cameras.
“We are very disappointed. If you don’t win the games, you should be disappointed,” Ibrahimovic said after the game, with quotes appearing in the Hull Daily Mail. “We had great chances to score and we should have won. It was a very important game.
“I did not see any chances where it was difficult for the goalkeeper, it was not a good save from Juan Mata, it was a bad finish. Some saves he made for the cameras.”
Ibrahimovic didn’t even suggest that the 0-0 stalemate came about as a result of misfortune in front of goal and claimed that the Red Devils simply weren’t good enough on the night.
“I think today was not about luck,” he told MUTV. “Because luck, if you don’t play good, and you get a chance, half chance and score, maybe it’s more luck but today we had great chances to score and we didn’t finish good enough and that happens.
“It would be nice to win today because the other teams lost points and we would come closer to, let’s say the top four, even for me top four is not my aim. My aim is to win the whole Premier League and if you don’t win you don’t come close, that’s it.
“If you make a goal in the last minute you will still win but if you don’t score you don’t win and I think we had some great chances to score but we didn’t score, so keep creating, keep creating and we missed the last third part of the field we were not doing like we know how to do and are able to do.”
