Alejandro Garnacho's Frosty Old Trafford Return: Fans React to Chelsea Move (2025)

Alejandro Garnacho returned to Old Trafford with Chelsea for their Premier League clash against Manchester United, having burned his bridges in the north west this summer

Alejandro Garnacho was booed relentlessly as he stepped off the Chelsea team coach at Old Trafford, and also faced jeers in the pre-match warm-up.

Saturday marks the Argentine's first time back at the Theatre of Dreams since parting ways with Manchester United this summer in a £40million move. And it's clear that there's a wealth of bad blood behind die-hard United fans and the 21-year-old winger as a result of how his exit unfolded.

Following United's 1-0 Europa League final loss to Tottenham in May, a game which he was benched for despite being a revelation during the group and knockout stages, Garnacho slammed the club's "s***" season overall in a furious rant.

Speaking after the loss, he said: "Obviously it's hard for everyone. Our season was s***. We didn't beat anyone in the league. We lacked a lot of things. When you don't score goals, you always need more.

"Until we reached the final, I played every round. And I played 20 minutes today... I don't know. I'm going to try to enjoy the summer and see what happens next."

After falling out with Ruben Amorim, Garnacho was reportedly told he was free to leave the club in the summer transfer window, before sealing a dream move to Stamford Bridge with Chelsea. And as a result of being included in Enzo Maresca's matchday squad for the Blues as they face United at Old Trafford, Garnacho received a frosty reception upon his arrival.

The winger was booed as he stepped off Chelsea's team coach and entered the stadium, before he was targeted with further drones during the side's on-field warm-up ahead of kick off.

Despite widespread speculation as to whether Garnacho would start against his former club, Maresca ultimately made the decision to favour Estevao and Pedro Neto on his flanks and demote the Argentine to the substitutes' bench.

However, the Italian had confirmed that he would deploy Garnacho against United if the opportunity presents itself. Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of kick-off, he said: "He already showed against Bayern Munich and Brentford that he can help us and hopefully we can give him some minutes in today's game."

Unfortunately, fate had other plans as Maresca was forced to utilise three of his five substitutions in the first 21 minutes of the match. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was shown a straight red card five minutes in, after bringing down Bryan Mbeumo on the edge of his own box and denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

As a result, Estevao was sacrificed to allow Maresca to replace Sanchez with Filip Jorgensen, while Pedro Neto made way for Tosin Adarabioyo to tighten up at the back. Cole Palmer was then withdrawn for Andrey Santos 21 minutes into the fixture.

Meanwhile, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana made way for Malo Gusto and Tyrique George in the 64th minute, leaving no remaining changes for Maresca to give Garnacho a run out.

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