Sandro hails United's bravery in cup comeback | OneFootball

The midfielder hadn't scored this season, but cancelled out Tammy Abraham's controversial opener with a deflected strike just after the hour mark, then rifled home in the 76th minute before Nick Woltemade wrapped up the victory at Villa Park.

Tonali dedicated his goals and the win to head coach Eddie Howe - who he described his relationship with as 'perfect' - and to the United supporters, who he believes are the best around.

And he felt the turnaround was just what the Magpies deserved for a brave performance in the second half, following some contentious refereeing decisions and a red card for home goalkeeper Marco Bizot. Here are some of the Italy international's post-match thoughts:

On the win...

"It's important for the team, because it's the second win in a row away, and for me it's important because it's the first two goals in my season. I've started a little bit late, but every time when you score, your game and your day is different!

"I've tried to score for the last two months a little bit more - but the first most important thing always is the team.

"I'm happy especially for Nick (Woltemade). He played as a midfielder and he played very well and he scored the last goal. And I'm happy for for every player, for every member of staff, for all the fans.

"Today was an amazing game; we played very well. This game is so important because we have one dream: to come back to Wembley."

On the second half turnaround...

"The first half, we conceded a goal - probably offside, but there isn't VAR here and for the referee it's so tough after every game with VAR. We accept the mistake, it's human.

"Second half, after the red card, the game was totally changed, totally different. We played positive football - every action, every pass, was (to try to) score. For the first 10, 15 minutes, the game was tough because they played with two lines of five and it was tough for us to play behind the first line.

"But we played very well, with bravery. Every pass was was positive and really, everything was positive, from the starters to the players who came from the bench.

"We played probably some of the best football in our season. I put this game with Everton and Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League. I think this is one of the three best game for us this season."

On his emotional celebrations...

"The first one, this celebration was, I think, seven months without scoring; if you don't score for seven months, after the first goal, you celebrate for ten or 11 goals - like Bruno (Guimarães)!

"But after the second goal, I came to Eddie (Howe) because in the past few weeks, people spoke about our relationship, but I work every day with the gaffer, the gaffer works every day with me, and our relationship is perfect. It's not broken and I think this is perfect for the team.

"We try to do the best for this team, every game, because we play a lot of games - every three days, we play, and we have to be concentrated every time in the training ground to do the best for our team."

On stepping up in Bruno Guimarães' absence...

"Bruno is one of our best players; our best player for scoring, the best player for recovery balls - he's key for us, and we miss him, because it's tough when you lost a player for a few weeks, for a long time. Bruno will come back in a few weeks. He's a top player for us and we need him.

"Every player here, we take the responsibility for everything - not just until Bruno comes back, but (also) when Bruno comes back we'll take the same responsibility, because we need every player here in this team - and especially Bruno because he's one of the best players at Newcastle."

On the travelling fans who cheered United to victory at Villa...

"It's crazy. The fans were unbelievable. I don't have words for this, but every away game our fans are the best - really, every game.

"And I think today was like playing at St. James' Park. They pushed us all the 90 minutes and for us it's another player on the pitch. We love to play with these fans, we love to play away games with a lot of fans.

"I want to say thank you to every single person here today."