What happened to Alejandro Garnacho on Man Utd return speaks volumes of Chelsea star

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 and throughout the match. Saturday marked the Argentine's first time back at the Theatre of Dreams since departing Manchester United this summer in a £40million transfer.

And it's evident that there's substantial animosity between devoted United supporters and the 21-year-old winger following the manner of his departure. After United's 1-0 Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in May, a match where he was relegated to the bench despite being outstanding throughout the group and knockout phases, Garnacho condemned the club's "s***" season overall in an angry outburst.

Speaking following the defeat, 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."

Following his fallout with Ruben Amorim, Garnacho was reportedly informed he could depart the club during the summer transfer window, before securing a dream switch to Stamford Bridge with Chelsea.

And as a consequence of being named in Enzo Maresca's matchday squad for the Blues in their 2-1 defeat to United, Garnacho received a hostile welcome upon his arrival. The winger was booed as he left Chelsea's team coach and made his way into the stadium, before enduring further jeers during the side's pre-match warm-up routine.

Despite intense conjecture over whether Garnacho would feature in the starting XI against his former employers, Maresca eventually opted to deploy Estevao and Pedro Neto on the flanks whilst relegating the Argentine to the substitutes' bench. He did not get onto the pitch.

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Maresca said that he would utilise Garnacho against United should the chance arise.

Speaking to Sky Sports before 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."

Regrettably, circumstances conspired against him as Maresca was compelled to exhaust three of his five substitutions within the opening 21 minutes of the encounter.

Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez received a straight red card just five minutes in, having fouled Bryan Mbeumo on the edge of his penalty area and preventing a clear scoring chance.

Consequently, Estevao was withdrawn to enable Maresca to introduce Filip Jorgensen in place of Sanchez, whilst Pedro Neto was replaced by Tosin Adarabioyo to shore up the defence.

Cole Palmer was subsequently substituted for Andrey Santos after 21 minutes of play.

Furthermore, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana were replaced by Malo Gusto and Tyrique George in the 64th minute, exhausting Maresca's remaining substitutions and preventing Garnacho from making an appearance.