Be careful, danger, club in distress. Already struggling in the league this season, Manchester United continues its long descent into the abyss of mediocrity after its defeat at home on Tuesday evening against Galatasaray in the Champions League (2-3).
The Red Devils, however, led twice thanks to their 75 million euro recruit, the great Dane Rasmus Højlund, author of three goals in two C1 matches, without being able to maintain their advantage for long. And Mauro Icardia sad ghost at PSG (again) who became a cold-blooded scorer in Turkey, punished them in the 81st minute with the winning goal, a little dive from the cockchafers, two minutes after missing a penalty.
The team led by Erik Ten Hag, moribund in the championship, finds itself at the bottom of Group A on the continental scene, without any points scored after two days. In a group where leader Bayern Munich seems untouchable. However, it was the match to win, at home, against an opponent within reach. The task is now complicated to snatch second qualifying place, held by a Galatasaray team (4 points) which will be difficult to get at home, where the atmosphere is one of the hottest in Europe.
A defense at bay
In the meantime, the Istanbulites put a real cold spell on Manchester on Tuesday, where they made the most of the English excitement, particularly in defense, already so visible on national soil. “The chances they had came from our mistakes,” admitted attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen on TNT Sports. “It’s a big disappointment,” he added, however dismissing any problem of “confidence” in the team. “It’s more a lack of edge, bad decisions in key moments and a bit of bad luck. »
Bad luck? Yes maybe. But, above all, the Red Devils’ rearguard sank in the Manchester rain, between bad placements, missed clearances and lack of vigilance, a failure which did not spare Raphaël Varane. The exclusion of the Brazilian Casemiro (77th) ended up collapsing the already fragile structure of the defense. The sixth defeat in ten games, in all competitions, increases the pressure around Erik Ten Hag, the coach who managed to wake up the sleeping giant last season. Everything moves very quickly in football.