Manchester United’s season went from bad to worse as they suffered another defeat in their second Champions League group stage match against Turkish side Galatasaray.
It was another night to forget at Old Trafford for the United faithful and for Andre Onana, as they led twice before ultimately losing 3-2, with the Cameroonian particularly poor on the night.
The Red Devils went ahead after Rasmus Hojlund turned in a Marcus Rashford cross to score his second goal since signing for United in the summer. They were however haunted by a familiar face in old boy Wilfried Zaha, who equalized for the away side after his deflected shot went past Onana. It was Zaha’s first ever Champions League goal and the Ivory Coast forward celebrated wildly taunting the United fans who jeered at him.
Danish forward Hojlund restored the lead for the home side with his second of the night after finishing his brilliant run with a beautiful chip over Fernando Muslera. United’s lead was again short-lived as they were pegged back almost immediately after the restart by Keren Akturkoglu, the midfielder taking advantage of United’s lackadaisical midfield.
With the game beautifully poised at 2-2, Casemiro was then given his marching orders after a reckless challenge in the penalty area on Napoli’s Dries Mertens. The Brazilian midfielder tried to win the ball back for his side following a wayward pass by Onana, but he caught the Napoli forward instead. Onana’s blushes were temporarily spared when Mauro Icardi fired the resulting penalty wide.
The Argentine forward, however, made up for his penalty miss by netting the winner for Galatasaray in the 81st minute. United’s midfield again found wanting, failed to deal with Davidson Sanchez’s header which found its way through to Icardi, the forward coolly lofting the ball over Onana to seal the result and condemn Manchester United to the bottom of the group.
United now face an uphill task if they are to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.
