Manchester United's 2023 started with such promise and ended with such a whimper.
Few sides were as up-and-down as Erik ten Hag's Red Devils. They won their first trophy in six years, secured an unlikely third-place Premier League finish and pushed eventual treble winners Manchester City all the way in the FA Cup final, only to bookend the calendar year having plummeted out of Europe and still plummeting out of top-four contention.
Still, at least there were some good times and cracking goals along the way. Not a lot of goals, mind you, but some special screamers whenever the net was found anyway.
Here were United's ten best goals of 2023, ranked.
10. Casemiro vs Bournemouth
Remember when Casemiro would either play like prime Zidane or get sent off and there was no in between?
The better version of himself was on hand to help United to a win at Bournemouth that helped secure a place in the Champions League.
9. Diogo Dalot vs Sheffield United (October 21)
As has been the case for much of the 2023/24 season so far, United were in need of some magic in order to eek out a win when they visited Bramall Lane back in October.
On this occasion, the hero was *checks notes* ...full-back Diogo Dalot? Wow, Ten Hag really is low on ideas.
8. Antony vs Real Betis (March 9)
Would you believe me if I said Antony wasn't completely and utterly useless at some point in 2023?
Of course you wouldn't, and rightly so. He did at least score a couple of bangers during his dreadful year though. This pearler at home to Real Betis was the lesser of his two Europa League strikes on this list.
7. Bruno Fernandes vs Galatasaray (November 29)
Sure, he can be annoying. Sure, he can be irksome. Sure, he can rile you up to the point where you want to throw a shoe at your TV.
But Bruno Fernandes is a bloody good footballer and was probably United's most consistent across the whole year. This goal at Galatasaray was one of his finest moments of 2023.
6. Marcus Rashford vs Real Betis (March 16)
2023 really should have been the year of Marcus Rashford after his phenomenal first few months. This list alone could have been made up of his goals.
To start his collection in our final cut is this clincher away at Real Betis.
5. Antony vs Barcelona (February 23)
If I were a betting man, I would wager a significant sum this moment will go down as the pinnacle of Antony's career.
4. Bruno Fernandes vs Burnley (September 23)
The pass. The strike. The kit. Oh, the kit.
Picture-perfect from Fernandes. It almost makes you forget this was only Burnley.
3. Rasmus Hojlund vs Galatasaray (October 3)
The game which announced Rasmus Hojlund to the world. The game that, really, should have seen him go on a tear in all competitions instead of just the Champions League.
His second in this loss to Galatasaray got you off your seat, got you anticipating something special was happening. No man that size should be able to move that fast.
2. Marcus Rashford vs Arsenal (January 22)
A superstar's goal in a fixture that has been littered with them.
There were shades of Gareth Bale 2012/13 about this strike from Rashford.
1. Alejandro Garnacho vs Everton (November 26)
Ahahahahahahahahaha.
Goodness me, what an absolutely outrageous and stupid goal.
