Red for Fred as Man United suffer costly Champions League defeat
Manchester United have seen their Champions League hopes, and perhaps even their season, turned on its head in a crazy few minutes against Paris St Germain in which they went behind, Fred was sent off, and Marcus Rashford left the field injured - and all with the crazy December fixture schedule only just about to start.
United’s 3-1 home defeat against the French champions, sealed by two goals from Neymar and one from Marquinhos, means they go into the final round of games in Group H still needing a point away to RB Leipzig to reach the last 16, with any hopes of resting key players before the Christmas madness completely out the window.
Oh, how thin the line is – and especially for United it seems – between glory and frustration.
At one point at Old Trafford Ole Solskjaer’s men were celebrating the prospect of early qualification with the score 1-1 and Edinson Cavani having just hit the bar with his team very much on top. But the whole thing collapsed around their ears.
An overall assessment of United performance will probably suggest they played well in a hugely entertaining end-to-end game in which they matched their opponents who, remember, played in the Champions League Final. But the implications of the result and the extra set-backs it brought, especially if Rashford’s injury is confirmed to be a shoulder problem which has bothered him before, are significant.
It is always difficult to properly assess where this United team is in terms of its development under Solskjaer, who has now been in charger for just under two years — a long time in terms of the modern managerial lifespan. And this result doesn’t make it any easier.
There have often been streaky runs of victories during those 23 months, but only as a part of an overall picture dotted with frustrating and often inexplicable defeats.
So although it’s encouraging that United followed up a miserable performance against group whipping boys Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey in early November with four consecutive victories in all competitions over the course of the next four weeks — including a match at Southampton last time out in which they showed both sides of the coin by recovering from 2-0 down to win 3-2 — this result puts a spanner in the works yet again.
This was an opportunity to give the Old Trafford manager some breathing space; and even more importantly to qualify early for the last 16 early — with a frightening and exhausting Christmas schedule looming. But it didn’t end that way and Solskjaer himself has to take part of the blame.
United went into the game, remarkably, with a fully fit squad — something rivals Liverpool would kill for at this moment in the season. But the need to protect key players such as Bruno Fernandes and Rashford cannot be underestimated and now that opportunity has gone.
Their final Champions League group fixture is against RB Leipzig in Germany on Tuesday 8 December, comes just four days before a Premier League derby against Manchester City at Old Trafford. That’s a match which Solskjaer knows he cannot afford to lose if he wants to keep supporters with him.
In fact, December brings eight fixtures in all competitions for United in the space of 24 days, including a renewed war of the roses rivalry against Leeds United a week after facing City, plus an EFL Cup quarter-final at Everton and a St Stephens’ Day trip to Leicester.
No wonder Solskjaer was so desperate to win against PSG in order to gain an opportunity to rest players before the mayhem is unleashed.
He made three changes, bringing the man who inspired the victory at Southampton — two goal substitute Cavani — into the line-up to face his old club, along with Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial.
Even so, PSG began the game on a real high, with Neymar and Mbappe almost unplayable in the opening minutes. They went ahead, too, from an exquisite break that ended with a deflected effort from Mbappe being driven home by his striker partner.
When Fred, who had already made a couple of bad tackles, faced up to Leandro Paredes and clearly head-butted his opponent, the game looked over. But, remarkably, referee Daniele Orsato — the man who refereed last season’s Champions League final — decided, even after seeing it again on the pitchside monitor, only to issue a yellow card.
How he came to that conclusion nobody will never know, but United were grateful he did as they gradually grew into the game and began to dominate possession. Their reward came with a deflected effort from Rashford, which hit Danilo before slipping through Keylor Navas’ hands for 1-1.
That’s the kind of character Solskjaer is trying to build but his decision to keep Fred on the pitch for the second half came back to bite him.
The half started well enough as Martial missed an excellent chance and Cavani was then denied a fairytale goal against his former club when he ran on to Fernandes’ excellent through ball and coolly chipped Navas, only to see the ball cannon back off the crossbar.
PSG, who have lost three games in the French league already this season and struggled in the Champions League too, belied that form with the way they fought back, changing their formation and going for the three points.
They came agonisingly close to going ahead with a header from Marquinhos from a cross by the excellent Florenzi before De Gea provided an outstanding save to keep the scores level.
The game was so open that you sensed a goal was coming, and it eventually did when Marquinhos stabbed home, just onside according to VAR, after 69 minutes.
If that was a setback then it looked even worse seconds later when Fred’s poor first touch meant he had to lunge to win a ball against substitute Herrera, and caught his man on the follow through. On another day it would have gone unpunished but considering Fred had been involved in so many skirmishes, including that head-butt, it was no real surprise when he received a second booking and was sent off. A situation that could have been avoided with a different decision from Solskjaer at half time.
There was then a further set-back when Rashford went off injured, replaced by Pogba, and it was no wonder United were reeling by the time a wonderful breakaway, started and finished by the Neymar, sealed their fate.
It doesn’t get any easier from this point on. Their first step into the Christmas schedule madness is at West Ham on Saturday and even Alex Ferguson would tell you that is a venue which has proved difficult and uncomfortable for United in the past.
From now on it gets even tougher.
De Gea 7, Wan Bissaka 6 (Ighalo 90), Lindelof 6, Maguire 6, Telles 6, Fred 5, McTominay 7, Fernandes 7, Martial 6 (Greenwood 79; 6), Cavani 7 (Van der Beek 79; 5), Rashford 7 (Pogba 74; 6).
Navas 7, Florenzi 7 (Kehrer 78; 6), Marquinhos 7, Diallo 6 (Gueye 90), Kimpembe 6, Veratti 7 (Rafinha 78; 6), Danilo 7, Parades 6 (Herrera 65; 6), Neymar 8, Kean 6 (Bakker 65; 6), Mbappe 7.
Daniele Orsato
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