{"id":298801,"date":"2023-11-09T21:25:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T21:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=298801"},"modified":"2023-11-09T21:25:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T21:25:00","slug":"man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/","title":{"rendered":"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &apos;Swedish Messi&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Remember the name! Kuwait-born Copenhagen wonderkid Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &#8216;Swedish Messi&#8217;, is being watched closely by Europe&#8217;s elite and has left Man United&#8217;s Champions League hopes in tatters<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bardghji&#8217;s late winner left Manchester United staring at European elimination<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Teenage Copenhagen midfielder is well known to Football Manager obsessives\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Man Utd are NOT good enough to have a ball-playing keeper &#8211; It&#8217;s All Coming Up\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember the name? How could Manchester United forget?<\/p>\n<p>A name like Rooney is usually reason for fond recollection at Old Trafford, but 17-year-old Roony Bardghji was their scourge on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n<p>His dramatic late goal sealed Copenhagen a dramatic 4-3 victory that left United&#8217;s Champions League hopes dangling by a thread.<\/p>\n<p>On a rollercoaster night at the Parken Stadium, Erik ten Hag&#8217;s side dropped from second spot in Group A in the 82nd minute to rock bottom in the 87th.<\/p>\n<p>Bardghji&#8217;s well-taken strike, hit into the ground to bounce past Andre Onana, propelled the teenager known as the &#8216;Swedish Messi&#8217; into the wider consciousness.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/16\/77609341-12730513-image-a-12_1699546943046.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Copenhagen&#8217;s 17-year-old wonderkid Roony Bardghji celebrates his dramatic late winning goal as the Danish club beat Manchester United 4-3 in the Champions League on Wednesday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/16\/77609335-12730513-image-a-13_1699547014775.jpg\" height=\"452\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The youngster is congratulated by keeper Kamil Grabara after his late heroics on Wednesday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/16\/77612343-12730513-image-a-14_1699547075123.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>His goal boosted Copenhagen&#8217;s chances of making it into the Champions League last-16 &#8211; but Manchester United&#8217;s qualifying hopes are now dangling by a thread<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Football Manager obsessives always knew Bardghji as a wonderkid worth signing and Copenhagen fans were aware of his talent &#8211; but now all of Europe knows.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Kuwait City to a Syrian family, the boy known almost always as just Roony moved to Sweden as a child.<\/p>\n<p>He played for a number of youth sides there, including in the academy of Malmo before crossing the Oresund Bridge to sign for Copenhagen&#8217;s academy in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>A mere 16 years and six days old when handed his senior debut against AGF in November 2021, he became the club&#8217;s youngest-ever player.<\/p>\n<p>When he lashed a 25-yard shot into the bottom corner against Aalborg a week later &#8211; becoming the youngest scorer in Danish top-flight history &#8211; quite a few ears pricked up across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Ajax were among those heavyweights who sent scouts to Copenhagen to watch the young star.<\/p>\n<p>They would have been impressed by Roony&#8217;s ability to play off either flank and dribble infield in an echo of Argentine superstar Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n<p>His coach at under-17 level for Sweden told newspaper Sportexpressen: &#8216;He has an understanding of the game, as well as good balance and coordination, which means that he has exceptional technique with the ball at this feet. It&#8217;s incredibly difficult to take the ball off him.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/16\/77609337-12730513-image-a-15_1699547115977.jpg\" height=\"476\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>United may have wished they had someone like Wayne Rooney to save them on Wednesday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/16\/77609339-12730513-image-a-16_1699547143404.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Instead they slumped to a third defeat in their opening four Champions League group games<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He is good one-on-one and has a good shot. He can shoot with both feet, even if he is basically left-footed, he can finish with the right as well.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That makes him very difficult to read for the defenders. Will he go right or left? It makes him difficult to handle.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>In the same way Roony has been fast-tracked through at Copenhagen, he jumped from half-a-dozen appearances &#8211; and five goals &#8211; for Sweden&#8217;s Under 17s straight up to the U21s last year.<\/p>\n<p>He now has 15 goals in 57 appearances for the Danish club and has helped them to consecutive league titles and a cup success.<\/p>\n<p>Ten of those goals have come this season and Copenhagen will be braced for transfer interest in a player whose present contract runs until 2025.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/16\/77612469-12730513-image-a-17_1699547290540.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Roony&#8217;s shot was stuck down into the ground before bouncing beyond keeper Andre Onana<\/p>\n<p>By the sounds of it, Roony himself won&#8217;t be fazed if big clubs come in for him.<\/p>\n<p>He told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet a year ago: &#8216;My goal is to become the best footballer in then world. I&#8217;ve had that dream since I was a kid and nothing can stop me except myself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I want to end up at Real Madrid and I want to play there for many years.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>His winner gave Copenhagen a great chance of making the Champions League last-16 and their fans inside the Parken taunted United with chants of &#8216;Roony, Roony, Roony.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for United, they don&#8217;t have his namesake to rescue them any more.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12730513\/Remember-Kuwait-born-Copenhagen-wonderkid-Roony-Bardghji-17-known-Swedish-Messi-watched-closely-Europes-elite-left-Man-Uniteds-Champions-League-hopes-tatters.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remember the name! Kuwait-born Copenhagen wonderkid Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &#8216;Swedish Messi&#8217;, is being watched closely by <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &amp;apos;Swedish Messi&amp;apos; - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &amp;apos;Swedish Messi&amp;apos; - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Remember the name! Kuwait-born Copenhagen wonderkid Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &#8216;Swedish Messi&#8217;, is being watched closely by &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-09T21:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dennis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Man-United-scourge-Roony-Bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-Swedish-Messi.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dennis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/\",\"name\":\"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &apos;Swedish Messi&apos; - Sportstons\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-09T21:25:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T21:25:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &apos;Swedish Messi&apos;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sportstons\",\"description\":\"sportstons.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Dennis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dennis\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &apos;Swedish Messi&apos; - Sportstons","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &apos;Swedish Messi&apos; - Sportstons","og_description":"Remember the name! Kuwait-born Copenhagen wonderkid Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &#8216;Swedish Messi&#8217;, is being watched closely by &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/","og_site_name":"Sportstons","article_published_time":"2023-11-09T21:25:00+00:00","author":"Dennis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Man-United-scourge-Roony-Bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-Swedish-Messi.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dennis","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/","url":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/","name":"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &apos;Swedish Messi&apos; - Sportstons","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-09T21:25:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-09T21:25:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/man-united-scourge-roony-bardghji-17-is-known-as-the-swedish-messi\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Man United scourge Roony Bardghji, 17, is known as the &apos;Swedish Messi&apos;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/","name":"Sportstons","description":"sportstons.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Dennis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dennis"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}