Manchester United goal hero Casemiro impressed by ambition of manager Erik ten Hag

Casemiro was Manchester United’s goalscorer and man of the match in Saturday’s crucial away victory at Bournemouth.

His spectacular finish earned United all three points on the south coast and put them within touching distance of Champions League football next season

The performance led his manager Erik ten Hag to say: “He keeps surprising us, he is such a brilliant football player. It was a great goal from Casemiro, a brilliant finish – and he keeps the team together.

"Casemiro won the most duels, regained possession more than any other player and took more shots than any other player. He has exceeded expectations, absolutely. His contribution is massive.”

Casemiro holds his manager in similar esteem.

“He has surprised me a lot with his ambition,” said the Brazilian. “We have been talking among us, and we have been saying that he is a little bit heavy because he always likes to win.

"He is asking for more because for him 100 per cent is not enough. We have to give more than 100 per cent. He works a lot and is very ambitious. He has the ambition to change the whole club.

“He is a manager who has the respect from all the players and the fans as well. But I think we need to give him time because despite the fact we have already won one title and are quite close to the Champions League, we need more time to grow up. We can see he is changing a lot of things within the club. He is always showing ambition to win.”

Casemiro was satisfied with the win over Bournemouth that leaves United needing just one point from the final two home games to guarantee Champions League football next season. United were within a minute of that objective until Liverpool’s late equaliser at Aston Villa.

“It’s true that we haven’t reached the