'Intelligent' Man Utd youngster stars for Wales U21s with first goal

Manchester United's Gabriele Biancheri scored his first goal for Wales Under-21s as they got off the mark in their European Championship qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory in Austria.

After two defeats in which they conceded 13 goals, a first win of the campaign lifted Wales off the bottom of Group I above Belarus.

Leading through Biancheri’s first-half goal, the visitors withstood significant pressure after the break and Chris Popov snatched a second in the 90th minute.

Cardiff-born Biancheri – who also qualifies for Canada and Italy and joined a training camp for the former earlier this summer – returned to the Wales fold when he made his under-21s debut in September.

And the Manchester United forward opened his account in the 25th minute of his first start when he capitalised on a loose backpass from David Heindl to sit the goalkeeper down before rolling the ball into an empty net.

Nikolas Sattlberger flicked a header against the crossbar and Wales goalkeeper Lewys Benjamin saved well at close range from Samson Baidoo but Austria eventually paid for missing a number of other chances.

Luke Harris’ perfectly weighted through-ball between the two centre-backs allowed Popov to run through and clip a shot past the goalkeeper.

Bianchieri has one goal and one assist in five games at Premier League 2 level for United having impressed coming through the age-group sides.

His form at Under-18 level prompted interest from Canada in the forward and Jesse Marsch called the teenager into a senior training camp during the summer in a bid to convince him to join the co-World Cup hosts.

Marsch is a big fan of the United prospect, telling reporters in Canada in May: "He's a dynamic player. He's very good around the goal. You can see he's an intelligent player.

"He's a version of Jonathan David. He's not exactly the same player but he's a striker that can play up on the backline and is also good at coming underneath and connecting plays and being part of the build-up phase.

"I've had good conversations with Gabe and his family. He has several options to think about in what country he wants to represent. I think it's really important that the family feels the connection to Canada."