An uncharacteristic 1-0 defeat at hand of FC Basel summed up the afternoon for Manchester United. The Red Devils only needed a point from this match to qualify for the knock out stages of the UEFA Champions League but the wait got stretched a bit long.
Paul Pogba made his second consecutive start in the middle of the pitch while Marcos Rojo started his first match after coming out from an injury-laden stint. Jose Mourinho continued to ignore Henrikh Mkhitaryan as the Armenian had to watch out from the dugout.
United started the match with great vigour and kept the intent throughout the first half. Romelu Lukaku even came close but denied by the Basel Keeper. After the break, it was all about Basel and the goal had to come.
Petretta made it through the left channel and laid the ball to Michael Lang who tapped the ball to the net as Daley Blind looked on haplessly.
Below here are the Manchester United player ratings in this drab loss:
Sergio Romero- 6
Except for conceding the goal, he was pretty solid beneath the crossbar. Made a good save of a long ranger. It wasn’t his fault at the time of the goal.
Matteo Darmian- 6
Largely helped with the attack as he often bombed forward but was clueless at times.
Chris Smalling- 7
Another stupendous performance in the heart of the defence. Thwarted the danger quite effectively and was pretty alert throughout the game.
Marcos Rojo- 7
Quite impressive return following an injury lay-off. Could have had his name on the scoresheet as his shot hit the post.
Daley Blind- 6
Delivered a number of good balls.
Marouane Fellaini-6
The big Belgian was brought in to deal with the physicality and to some extent, he was successful as he won a number of headers for his side.
Ander Herrera- 7
Was pretty settled and worked tirelessly to keep the midfield running.
Paul Pogba- 8
A man of the match performance again. Was involved heavily as he had been a constant menace for the opposition defenders. Displayed some lovely skills and also churned out some delightful balls.
Jesse Lingard- 5
Didn’t know why he was on the pitch.
Anthony Martial- 6
Tried his bit but was a bit unlucky with the effort, which could have brought his side on level terms.
Romelu Lukaku- 6
Had his chance to be the hero but couldn’t grab the opportunity properly.
Substitutes
Nemanja Matic- 5.5
Had a very little time to make any impact.
