Manchester United’s struggles in the Champions League continued after they suffered a 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening.
The young striker Rasmus Hojlund put ten-man United ahead twice, the second time with a brilliant effort, capitalising on Davinson Sanchez’s mistake to race 50 yards and beat Fernando Muslera with a deft finish.
The home team was ahead for a total of 10 minutes before old boy Wilfried Zaha and then Kerem Akturkoglu equalised for the visitors.
Then, nine minutes from the end, after Mauro Icardi had missed a penalty due to a terrible mistake by Andre Onana that resulted in a red card for Casemiro, the Argentine made amends by sprinting through the hosts’ defence and finishing.
To make matters worse for manager Erik ten Hag, United are currently in last place in their Champions League group, four points behind their second-place visitors who are trailing only Bayern Munich.
After losing to Crystal Palace at home in the Premier League on Saturday, United has dropped two straight and five of their last seven games.
It was a truly terrible evening for Ten Hag, who stood in the pouring rain just before the final whistle praying for a miracle that would give his team hope in a season as bleak as the weather.
“Our start to the season has not been good enough,” he said in his programme notes. “Although there are reasons, we will not attempt to hide behind excuses. It is up to us now to turn our fortunes around. What happens next is up to us and nobody else.”
While United’s early fortunes are not promising, at least they have Hojlund to take heart from.
Hojlund’s first goal was set up by a Marcus Rashford cross that he headed past Sanchez from inside the six-yard box.
Then, after Rashford had raced clear but fluffed a simple square pass that should have set up Bruno Fernandes for an easy tap-in, Hojlund made his own run from the halfway line and scored three goals in two games to give his team a commanding lead in the Champions League.
However, United’s defence was a shocker from that point on.
After Sofyan Amrabat was easily turned by the sideline, Akturkoglu scored an equaliser after Casemiro misread his run into the box.
The £47 million he cost was based on the assumption that Onana can move the ball around well. But Casemiro fouled the Belgian, and Icardi missed the penalty, saving the goal after the Cameroonian custodian had passed directly to Dries Mertens from the edge of his six-yard box.
Icardi’s goal four minutes later provided no relief, and the away fans’ ecstatic celebrations, which could be heard throughout Old Trafford, only made United’s night worse.
On the eve of the game, Zaha reflected on his disappointing United career and concluded that he was better off for having experienced it.
Some say he was good enough to play at a higher level than Crystal Palace and could still be successful somewhere other than the Turkish Super Lig.
The fact that Zaha had to ask for water when he approached the dugout during a break in play is indicative of a lack of attention to detail in the Turkish league, unlike the Premier League.
While at United, Zaha made his debut on this very pitch; almost ten years later, at Galatasaray, he scored his first goal in the Champions League.
There was not a lot of subtlety to it. The battle on the edge of the area was started by a long ball launched from the opposing team’s half, and Zaha easily outmuscled Diogo Dalot.
His ground-based volley was powerful enough to send the ball arcing over Onana’s head. Zaha was able to milk the celebrations, although they paled in comparison to what happened after the final whistle because no fans were present in September 2020 when he scored twice in a Palace win at Old Trafford.
Photo by EPA/PETER POWELL
