Dimitar Berbatov names two Man Utd stars who outshone goal hero Joshua Zirkzee vs Fulham

Dimitar Berbatov was pleased to see Joshua Zirkzee score on his debut against Fulham but believes two other Manchester United stars were more deserving of the man of the match award.

Zirkzee came off the bench after 61 minutes with United struggling to break down the Cottagers in the opening game of the Premier League season on Monday.

With three minutes of the match remaining he found the breakthrough, helping set up and finishing a move to beat Bernd Leno in goal, clipping Alejandro Garnacho’s cross into the far corner of the net.

Fernandes had earlier spurned to huge opportunities to score himself in the first half of the game but also played a key role in the winning goal, winning the ball from deep.

The United captain was one of two players that stood out for former United star Berbatov, who was also impressed by Casemiro’s contribution in midfield.

‘[Zirkzee was] asking for the ball, “give me the ball.” He chose confidence,’ Berbatov told Premier League Productions.

‘But it also shows how football works, you score one goal and you are man of the match. Obviously the goal is the most important but in this case I agree with Owen [Hargreaves], probably Casemiro or Bruno deserve it more than him. But football is like this.’

United started the match with no recognised centre forward with Ramus Hojlund expected to be sidelined until mid-September after a hamstring injury suffered during pre-season.

Zirkzee proved himself to be a viable option to come in and fill that void. While Berbatov believes there is ‘a lot of work to be done’, he saw plenty of positives – believing United legend and ten Hag’s new assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy would have been proud of his goal scoring start.

‘There is a lot of work to be done with him,’ Berbatov said.

‘As we see in the interview he is still shy, finding his feet around the club. But he is in the box, asking for the ball, attacking the ball so it is a good start for him.

‘Ruud will be buzzing as well, telling him what he did right or wrong so he will be ready for the next game.’