Thirteen minutes in, he does the one thing you simply don’t do: misplaces a pass on the edge of his own box, gifts Bruno Fernandes a chance, then completely loses his head and slaps his own centre-back, Michael Keane.
Straight red. First Premier League player in 17 years to be sent off for striking a teammate. At Old Trafford. With 80+ minutes left to play.
Most teams crumble there. Everton didn’t. With 10 men, they dug in, played like their lives depended on it, and delivered a famous 1 – 0 win only their second victory at United in 33 years and David Moyes finally got his first ever win at Old Trafford as an away manager on his 18th attempt. That’s football heritage right there.
Gueye didn’t even get the chance to speak to Moyes or the lads at half-time. After the game, the dressing room is buzzing, the kind of away-end energy you dream of.
And that’s when Gueye steps up. He asks to address the entire squad and Michael Keane in particular. No excuses, no hiding.
He apologises directly to Keane for the slap, then to the whole team for leaving them with a mountain to climb, and thanks them for bailing him out with that heroic performance.
Their response? A round of applause. That tells you everything about the togetherness in that Everton dressing room.
Moyes, being Moyes, even admitted he “likes my players fighting each other” classic old-school manager line but Gueye won’t escape the club’s internal discipline.
Everton have standard fines for red and yellow cards, and this one will almost certainly fall into that bracket. On top of that, he’s banned for three games: Newcastle, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.
And it might get worse for Everton with AFCON coming up, Senegal could call him up before he’s even back eligible to face Chelsea on 13 December.
To his credit, Gueye didn’t stop with the dressing-room speech. He went public with it too.
On social media he apologised to Keane, the squad, the staff, the fans and the club, saying it doesn’t reflect who he is or what he stands for, and that nothing justifies that kind of reaction. You can feel the sincerity and players notice that.
On the other side, United were left picking through the wreckage. Matthijs de Ligt summed it up bluntly: lack of urgency, lack of efficiency, no cutting edge against 10 men sitting deep and strong in the air.
In the Premier League, that’s how you lose games you’re “supposed” to win. Now they head to Crystal Palace knowing they need a reaction, fast.
In the end, this game will be remembered for two things: Everton’s unbelievable shift with 10 men, and a veteran midfielder who made a huge mistake, owned it like a pro, and earned the respect of his teammates all over again.
That’s the beautiful chaos of football one wild slap, one iconic away win, and a redemption arc all in 90 minutes.
