{"id":478427,"date":"2026-03-16T10:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T10:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478427\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T10:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T10:16:19","slug":"jj-gabriel-and-shea-lacey-respond-to-matheus-cunha-message-after-man-utd-beat-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478427\/","title":{"rendered":"JJ Gabriel and Shea Lacey respond to Matheus Cunha message after Man Utd beat Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=unitedinfocus.com \" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Add as preferred source on Google <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>JJ Gabriel and Shea Lacey are two of Manchester United\u2019s most exciting young talents, and they clearly look up to Matheus Cunha in the first team.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/matheus-cunha\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matheus Cunha<\/a> scored his seventh goal of the season to put Manchester United ahead in their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/match-coverage\/five-things-we-learned-as-manchester-united-beat-aston-villa-3-1-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3-1 victory over Aston Villa<\/a> on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/match-coverage\/wayne-rooney-hails-difference-maker-bruno-fernandes-but-michael-owen-finds-second-class-man-utd-star\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Owen was in awe of Cunha<\/a> and his finish after he burst in behind the defence and slotted calmly past Emiliano Martinez in goal.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2266637605-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Matheus Cunha celebrates scoring their second with Bruno Fernandes during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford in 2026 in Manchester, England.\" class=\"wp-image-337309\" \/>Photo by Marc Atkins\/Getty Images         <\/p>\n<p> What is your verdict on Matheus Cunha\u2019s debut season for Man United? <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UIF-22-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Matheus Cunha graphic\" class=\"wp-image-336438\" \/>Getty Images       Matheus Cunha sends message to Man Utd fans after Villa win<\/p>\n<p>Following the 3-1 victory at Old Trafford, Cunha took to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DV6kcgnjF6i\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a> to celebrate the win and send a message to supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Cunha posted photos of his surfing celebration, captioned: \u201cBagulho sinistro (translation: something crazy). Beautiful Sunday reds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>United wonderkid JJ Gabriel was quick to reply \u2018top\u2019, while Shea Lacey posted a surfing emoji to match Cunha\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Neither JJ Gabriel nor Lacey were in the matchday squad for the Villa clash, but both youngsters have been in and around the first team this season.<\/p>\n<p>          Do you agree with our top player ratings vs Aston Villa? <\/p>\n<p class=\"grv-talking-point__subtitle\">What would YOU change?<\/p>\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UIF-2026-03-15T160706.880-819x1024.png\" alt=\"Player ratings v Villa\" class=\"wp-image-337338\" \/>       JJ Gabriel and Shea Lacey can look up to Matheus Cunha<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the Villa clash, it was revealed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/jj-gabriel-spotted-in-man-utd-first-team-training-ahead-of-aston-villa-clash\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gabriel has been in first-team training<\/a> under Carrick.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/shea-lacey-returns-to-man-utd-training-to-give-michael-carrick-a-selection-boost\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shea Lacey has returned to training<\/a> following a recovery from injury.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/opinion\/89th-minute-moment-proved-shea-lacey-will-be-a-star-for-man-utd\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lacey made his debut against Villa<\/a> in the reverse fixture this season back in December, and the 18-year-old will be eager to get back into the first-team picture at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/match-coverage\/five-winners-and-two-losers-from-man-uniteds-3-1-win-vs-aston-villa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Five winners and two losers from Man United\u2019s 3-1 win vs Aston Villa<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/matheus-cunha-makes-an-extraordinary-claim-about-man-utd-he-has-big-plans\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cunha has shown a brilliant mentality<\/a> and attitude since making his move to Manchester, and it seems he is already becoming a role model for some of United\u2019s younger talents.<\/p>\n<p>In 2026\/27, Cunha might find himself playing alongside Gabriel and Lacey a lot more in the first team.<\/p>\n<p>Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n<p>   <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google JJ Gabriel and Shea Lacey are two of Manchester United\u2019s most exciting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,117682,2916,81962,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-478427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-jj-gabriel","tag-matheus-cunha","tag-shea-lacey","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}