'Lammens' — Super Eagles' Uzoho salutes Man United's goalkeeper after career-defining Everton display

Nigerian goalkeeper Francis Uzoho has faced some of the best strikers on the African continent, kept goal at AFCON tournaments, held his nerve in qualification battles, and earned the respect of the Super Eagles dressing room over years of professional service.

When he watches a goalkeeper and decides they are worth talking about, people in the goalkeeping community listen.

On Monday night, after watching Senne Lammens dismantle Everton's aerial bombardment almost single-handedly, Uzoho went to his X account and typed one word.

Manchester United travelled to the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday needing a win. What nobody anticipated was that their 23-year-old Belgian goalkeeper would be the reason they got it.

Everton had a plan. It was simple, physical, and specifically designed to unsettle a young keeper still finding his footing at the highest level. Pack the six-yard box.

Win every header. Force crosses from every angle until the nerves show. It is the kind of tactical onslaught that has ended promising careers before they properly began. Lammens did not flinch.

Everton forced ten corners and delivered 35 crosses into his penalty area. He caught two, punched four away, and commanded his box with the quiet authority of a goalkeeper twice his age.

When Michael Keane unleashed a long-range piledriver in the 82nd minute, the kind of shot that causes goalkeepers nightmares for weeks, Lammens produced a flying stop of the highest order, fingertipping the ball away from the top corner with the crowd already rising to celebrate.

Four crucial saves in total. A clean sheet preserved. Three points secured. The man of the match award was not a debate.

Taking to his social media, Uzoho, a United fan, posted an image of a happy fan covered in the club’s merchandise before giving Lammens his flowers in a separate post.

“Lammens,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter, with two thumbs up emojis.

What separated Lammens on Monday was not just the heroics. It was the composure between them.

With 43 touches and a calmness in distribution that suggested the occasion had not exceeded his capacity for a single moment, the Belgian showed the full profile of a modern goalkeeper, one that has already drawn comparisons to Manchester United legend Edwin van der Sar from pundits watching closely.

Those are significant comparisons. Lammens will know better than anyone that they mean nothing if the performances stop. But for one night in front of a hostile crowd, he looked every inch the answer to a question United have been asking for years.

Uzoho's praise is worth more than a casual social media moment. The Super Eagles number one is a Manchester United fan who has himself produced a famous performance at Old Trafford he knows what it feels like to stand between those posts and hold a crowd at bay.

When he watches a fellow goalkeeper deliver that kind of display and chooses to acknowledge it publicly, it means something. The goalkeeping community is a small, proud fraternity. Recognition from inside it carries weight that fan praise simply cannot match.

For Lammens, a Super Eagles goalkeeper stopping his scroll and typing his name is a small but significant moment. He is being noticed by the right people.