Real Madrid old boys Casemiro & Raphael Varane can almost taste the Champions League again! Winners and losers as Man Utd move inches away from top-four finish

In their days at Real Madrid, Casemiro and Varane were used to winning the Champions League practically every season, so imagine how they have felt being unable to play in the competition at all this season. But thanks to hugely impressive performances from both players here, they are almost certain to be playing in Europe's elite competition again next season with United.

Casemiro just loves playing against Bournemouth. Two of his three Premier League goals for United have come against Gary O'Neil's side, but this is easily the best of any of his strikes for the Red Devils. The Brazil midfielder followed the flight of Christian Eriksen's lofty pass, and when Marcos Senesi got there first to send the ball higher into the air, Casemiro conjured up a jaw-dropping bicycle kick. His compatriot Neto in the Bournemouth goal stood no chance.

The goal was exactly what Casemiro needed after a series of bad performances following his four-match domestic suspension. And he played with more confidence and energy than in recent weeks, dominating the midfield and helping out the defence when United needed to dig their heels in late in the game.

Varane was also inspirational. The Frenchman looked a little off the pace in his first game back in over a month against Wolves last week, but he was back to full strength on the south coast, winning challenges with conviction and spraying the ball all across the pitch from the back.

The Frenchman had not scored, but he was enjoying one of his better performances when he looked up in shock and saw his number nine being held up to come off inside the hour mark. Martial could not hide his anger, and when he left the pitch to be replaced by Wout Weghorst, he blanked Ten Hag.

The Dutch coach has often praised Martial and has said on more than one occasion that United play their best football when he is in the team. But he has also expressed doubts about his fitness levels and clearly does not trust him to finish matches without getting injured.

With just two games of the season to go, Martial has not completed 90 minutes in any match in all competitions in 2022-23. And his propensity to get injured is one of the reasons why the club have prioritised signing a striker this summer.

But blanking Ten Hag was a sign of petulance, and the former Ajax boss has demonstrated before that he does not like having his authority questioned.

This was the type of match De Gea relishes. Bournemouth kept United on their toes and the Spaniard was forced to make three fine saves during the game. First he thwarted Dominic Solanke, then tipped over a powerful shot from David Brooks. His final save from Kieffer Moore was vintage De Gea, making himself big in a one-on-one situation by stretching out his legs and making a barrier to block the shot.

It was the perfect way for the Spaniard to record his 17th clean sheet of the season, which guaranteed he will win the Premier League Golden Glove for the most matches without conceding a goal. It is the second time he has won the award, which he also collected in the 2017-18 season.

The performance cannot gloss over the Spaniard's problems with playing the ball out with his feet, but it also proved he still has a lot more to give United.

There's no other way to put this: Fernandes had a shocker of a game. He kept on losing possession and played hardly any key passes of note, having set up both goals in last week's win over Wolves. He didn't even protest the referee's decisions with his usual vitriol. The Portuguese's only contribution was a volley which Neto saved in the second half.

Perhaps we can put the performance down to tiredness. This was Fernandes' 35th Premier League match of the season - only De Gea has played more. Fernandes also played through the pain of a foot injury in April. It is understandable that in a season in which he has barely been able to rest more than three days between games, he was going to have one bad day at the office.

At last United's travelling supporters had something to celebrate. It is a long journey from Manchester to Bournemouth and travel was made even harder by a lack of trains back to the north west.

But those who did make the journey enjoyed a glorious day in the sun on the south coast, and at last had not only a goal to celebrate, but three points too. This was only United's third away win in the league in 2023, out of 10 matches.

Ten Hag's side will see the season out with two home games and will look back on this campaign as one of their worst away from home. They have lost eight times on the road, including getting hammered 7-0 by Liverpool, 6-3 by Manchester City and 4-0 by Brentford. But at least they had something to shout about in their last trip of the season.

Sancho might not have expected to start this game a couple of days ago, with Marcus Rashford returning to training after injury and Alejandro Garnacho scoring in his return from injury against Wolves.

But an illness for Rashford gave Sancho another opportunity to prove himself. Once more, he could not take it. The winger has looked incapable of making any meaningful contributions since he scored against Tottenham more than three weeks ago.

Bournemouth should have been ideal opponents for him to pick up some confidence, but he didn't have a single shot on goal and United's away fans, who were behind the goal the team were attacking in the second half, could be seen urging him to make a run. He did not oblige, and soon after he was replaced by Garnacho.

The Argentine could not score either, but for the second game in a row he offered more exciting moments in a cameo role than his team-mate could in his 70 minutes on the pitch.