Cunha relieved to break duck as Man Utd continue resurgence

Matheus Cunha said he was relieved to score his first goal for Manchester United as he played a starring role in their 4-2 win over Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday. 

The Brazilian had impressed for the club since joining from Wolves in the summer, arriving in Ruben Amorim's team for a reported £62.5m transfer fee. 

But it took until his ninth match for his new club for him to finally get on the scoresheet, as he opened the scoring with a well-taken strike from the edge of the area.

Indeed, prior to their win over Brighton, Cunha had the most attempts on goal without scoring in 2025-26 among Premier League players in all competitions.

Cunha had scored 17 times in all competitions last season, while he also matched the Premier League record of 15 by a Brazilian player in a single top-flight campaign, but he acknowledged that he needed to get up and running in terms of scoring for the Red Devils. 

He told Premier League Productions: "Of course ... when you play up front, [you have] to score goals.

"I have [to have] more contributions. But the last time I said this, if my participation is to help the team and then we start doing [well], I'll be happy also.

"But, of course, with this goal, everyone will be around me to push me.

"The guys started to joke and then said, 'wow, you can score!'. These things happen and everyone pushes me and I feel so happy to be here."

Cunha netted the first, while goals from Casemiro and Bryan Mbeumo put the home side in the driving seat, though they were made to hold on as Brighton pulled goals back through ex-player Danny Welbeck and Charalampos Kostoulas.

Mbeumo added his second and United's fourth in stoppage time to ensure that the Red Devils would win three matches in a row for the first time since February 2024, continuing the resurgence under head coach Amorim, whom Cunha spoke glowingly of.

"Everyone has full confidence in Amorim," Cunha said. "He is someone that pushes us forward.

"He is always very stressed until we start to win, and then he improves every day. Of course, he deserves this, Man United deserve this.

"This needs to be the normal for this club. I am so happy to be a part of this. Amazing day, I will remember this."

United's next match is a visit to the City Ground as they face Nottingham Forest in a week's time.