Relief for Amorim as Man United grabs stoppage-time winner with Fernandes penalty

Ruben Amorim couldn’t watch.

Bruno Fernandes was about to take a penalty in the seventh minute of stoppage time that could well determine Amorim’s future as Manchester United manager, and it was too much for the Portuguese coach who has had the weight of the world on him this week.

So, he slid into his seat in the dugout, put his crossed feet up on the wall in front of him, and looked into the sky. Amorim just listened as Fernandes converted the spot kick to seal a 3-2 win over Burnley at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Who knows, it might just be enough to keep Amorim in a job.

“We should have won in a different way,” Amorim said, “we should not suffer.”

Amorim experienced another roller-coaster of emotions, days after falling under massive pressure following United's embarrassing English League Cup exit at the hands of fourth-tier Grimsby Town in midweek.

After that game, he criticized his players and suggested discussions would be held next week about his position. If those negotiations take place, Amorim goes into them in a slightly stronger position, despite major doubts remaining over his ability to get United — one of the world’s biggest clubs — back to its previous heights.

“I am always talking with the board and I understand the context, the feeling and everything,” Amorim said, before adding about his emotional state: “I understand I say some things and I will say them again when we have these kind of moments.”

United squandered the lead twice against Burnley — one of the favorites for relegation — and was heading for a draw that would have left Amorim in a precarious position going into the international break.

Then, with the clock just into added-on time, United winger Amad Diallo had his jersey pulled by Jaidon Anthony as they ran into the area. On-field referee Sam Barrott declined to give a penalty, but was told to review the incident on video and he changed his mind.

Fernandes rolled the spot kick into the corner, Old Trafford erupted and Amorim could breathe again. It was a first win of the season for United following a 1-0 loss to Arsenal and a 1-1 draw at Fulham, with that embarrassing display at Grimsby thrown in.

United next plays against Manchester City in the derby. It remains to be seen if Amorim, who has been in charge for a turbulent 10 months, will still be around for that.

Chelsea gained from some contentious refereeing calls in a 2-0 win over west London neighbor Fulham, whose manager Marco Silva struggled to contain his unhappiness.

Joao Pedro gave Chelsea the lead with a header from a corner in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage time, after a minimum of eight added-on minutes had been called.

That further angered Silva, who was already furious that his team's 21st-minute goal by 18-year-old Josh King was ruled out after a VAR review deemed Rodrigo Muniz to have stamped on the foot of Trevoh Chalobah as he shielded the ball in the build-up.

Silva resorted to laughing sarcastically early in the second half when Chelsea was awarded a penalty for handball against Ryan Sessegnon following another video review, which highlighted two potential infringements — a push and a handball — by Joao Pedro in the build-up.

After a long delay, Enzo Fernandez converted the spot kick down the middle in the 56th.

“For someone that loves football as a manager, a former football player, as a fan sometimes when I just watch a game, I feel sad, really,” Silva said when asked for his views on the refereeing decisions. “Just that.”

Chelsea, the Club World Cup champion over the summer, has picked up seven points from a possible nine in its first three games in the Premier League.

One of the three 100% records in the Premier League disappeared when Tottenham lost 1-0 to Bournemouth, thanks to Evanilson's fifth-minute goal.

Liverpool and Arsenal are the other two teams to have collected maximum points from the opening two games and they meet at Anfield on Sunday.

Sunderland scored a goal in the sixth-minute of stoppage time to beat Brentford 2-1 and Everton won 3-2 at Wolves.

With new signing Nick Woltemade watching from the directors’ box, Newcastle was held to a 0-0 draw at Leeds. Woltemade has likely been signed to replace Alexander Isak, who again didn't feature for Newcastle as he looks to secure a move to Liverpool.

Wrexham, globally popular since being taken over by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021, earned its first league win following promotion to the Championship by beating Millwall 2-0.

The Welsh club had lost two and drawn the other in its first three league games.

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes shoots a penalty kick to score during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Burnley at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Burnley at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Referee Robert Jones, right, speaks with Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Saturday, Aug 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Saturday, Aug 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Referee Robert Jones checks the VAR screen during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Saturday, Aug 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Chelsea's Joao Pedro, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Saturday, Aug 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

CHERNIHIV, Ukraine (AP) — Young athletes in northern Ukraine spend their days cross-country skiing through a scorched forest, focused on their form — until a siren inevitably shatters the silence.

They respond swiftly but without panic, ditching their skis and following coaches to an underground bomb shelter.

It’s an ordinary training session at the complex that produced Ukraine’s first Olympic medalist.

Sleeping children no longer dream of Olympic glory in the facility's bombed-out dormitories, and unexploded ordnance has rendered nearby land off limits. But about 350 kids and teens — some of the nation's best young cross-country skiers and biathletes — still practice in fenced-off areas amid the sporadic buzz of drones passing overhead then explosions as they're shot down.

“We have adapted so well — even the children — that sometimes we don’t even react,” Mykola Vorchak, a 67-year-old coach, told The Associated Press in an interview on Oct. 31. “Although it goes against safety rules, the children have been hardened by the war. Adapting to this has changed them psychologically.”

War has taken a heavy toll on Ukrainian sport. Athletes were displaced or called up to fight. Soccer matches are often interrupted by air raid sirens so attendance is capped by bomb shelter capacity. Elite skaters, skiers and biathletes usually train abroad, with attacks and frequent blackouts shuttering local facilities.

But the government-run Sports Ski Base of the Olympic Reserve is open for cross-country skiing and biathlon, the event which combines skiing with shooting. The sprawling complex is on the outskirts of Chernihiv, a city two hours north of Kyiv along the path of destruction Russia's army left in its 2022 attempt to capture the capital. Chernihiv remains a regular target for air attacks aimed at the power grid and civilian infrastructure.

Several temporary structures at the sports center serve as changing rooms, toilets and coaches’ offices. Athletes train on snowy trails during the winter and, throughout the rest of the year, use roller skis on an asphalt track pocked by blast marks.

Biathletes aim laser rifles at electronic targets and, between shooting drills, sling skis over their shoulders and jog back to the start of the course, cheeks flushed from the cold.

Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina spent her adolescence at the Chernihiv center performing these same drills, and won bronze at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer. It was Ukraine’s first Olympic medal as an independent country.

“The conditions weren’t great, but we had nothing better. And for us, it was like a family — our own little home,” she said inside her apartment, its shelves and walls lined with medals, trophies and souvenirs from competitions around the world.

Tserbe-Nesina, 56, was shocked when she visited the complex in 2022. Shelling had torn through buildings, fire had consumed others. Shattered glass littered the floors of rooms where she and friends once excitedly checked taped-up results sheets.

“I went inside, up to my old room on the second floor. It was gone — no windows, nothing,” she said. “I recorded a video and found the trophies we had left at the base. They were completely burned.”

Tserbe-Nesina has been volunteering to organize funerals for fallen Ukrainian soldiers in her hometown while her husband, a retired military officer, returned to the front. They see each other about once a year, whenever his unit allows him brief leave.

One adult who in 2022 completed a tour in a territorial defense unit of Ukraine’s army sometimes trains today alongside the center's youngsters. Khrystyna Dmytrenko, 26, will represent her country at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that start Feb. 6.

“Sports can show that Ukraine is strong,” Dmytrenko said in an interview next to the shooting range. “We represent Ukraine on the international stage, letting other countries, athletes and nations see our unity, strength and determination.”

The International Olympic Committee imposed bans and restrictions on Russian athletes after the invasion of Ukraine, effectively extending earlier sanctions tied to state‑sponsored doping. But a small group of them will participate in the upcoming Winter Games.

After vetting to ensure no military affiliation, they must compete without displaying any national symbols — and only in non-team events. That means Russian and Ukrainian athletes could face one another in some skating and skiing events. Moscow’s appeal at the federation level to allow its biathletes to compete is pending.

That's why many Ukrainians view training for these events as an act of defiance. Former Olympic biathlete Nina Lemesh, 52, noted that some young Ukrainians who first picked up rifles and skis at the Chernihiv ski base during wartime have become international champions in their age groups.

“Fortunately, Ukrainians remain here. They always will,” she said, standing beside the destroyed dormitories. “This is the next generation of Olympians.”

AP writer Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv contributed to this report.

A young biathlete trains outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Biathlete Khrystyna Dmytrenko poses for photos outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A young biathlete trains outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Biathletes Mykola Dorofeiev, 16, and Nazar Kravchenko, 12, left, train at the ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Biathlete Khrystyna Dmytrenko poses for photos inside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A young biathlete trains outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)