Manchester United faced off against Red Bull Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena earlier tonight hoping to pick up a result and book their place into the knockout phases of the UEFA Champions League. The Red Devils made a poor start to the game as they conceded the opening goal in the second minute when Angelino scored with a powerful strike from a tight angle. Amadou Haidara doubled his team’s advantage just 11 minutes later when he found the back of the net from close range. Man United went into the half-time break two goals down and with a mountain to climb in the second half.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer struggled to be clinical in the early stages of the second 45 minutes, and Leipzig took full advantage of the situation by scoring their third goal in the 69th minute courtesy of Justin Kluivert’s finish from point-blank range. The Mancunian giants refused to give up without a fight as they scored two quick-fire goals via Bruno Fernandes’s penalty and Harry Maguire’s inadvertent goal which gave them some hope in the final few minutes of the contest. However, it was too little too late as the Red Devils narrowly lost the match by a 3-2 scoreline and were knocked out of the Champions League in the process.
Let’s take a look at how each Man United player fared during the match against Red Bull Leipzig.
GK: David de Gea – 5/10
The Spanish keeper couldn’t manage to save any of Red Bull Leipzig’s three goals during the game. His ball-distribution was far from convincing as well which didn’t help Man United’s cause.
CB: Luke Shaw – 4/10
Shaw was defensively all over the place and never look confident when under pressure from the opposition. He also lost track of Haidara’s run in the lead-up to Leipzig’s second goal.
CB: Harry Maguire – 3.5/10
Maguire struggled to keep up with the pace of the home team’s attacks and was defensively at sixes and sevens. He inadvertently scored his team’s second goal which gave them a glimmer of hope late in the game, but it was far too late by then.
CB: Victor Lindelof – 4/10
The Man United centre-back looked nervy inside his penalty box and produced an underwhelming display throughout the 90 minutes. He got booked late in the game and was taken off soon after.
LM: Alex Telles – 4/10
The Brazilian full-back didn’t communicate with his teammates enough and left way too much space for the Leipzig attackers to exploit in the first half. He got substituted at the half-time break.
CM: Nemanja Matic – 4/10
The Serbian international was far too slow and put in a disappointing performance in the holding midfield position.
CM: Scott McTominay – 5.5/10
McTominay showed the hunger to get on the ball but couldn’t create anything meaningful in the opposition half. However, he deserves credit for not giving up in the face of adversity.
RM: Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 3/10
Wan-Bissaka got caught out early in the game and didn’t do enough to stop Angelino’s goal. He never looked comfortable in what turned out to be a poor display from him tonight.
CAM: Bruno Fernandes – 6.5/10
The Portuguese playmaker was a constant threat with his vision and passing. He was unfortunate to hit the crossbar with his free-kick but converted the spot-kick with ease.
ST: Mason Greenwood – 6/10
Greenwood showed some glimpses of his potential but was not clinical enough in the attacking third.
ST: Marcus Rashford – 5/10
The English striker had a quiet game and never looked like he had a goal in him.
Substitutes:
CM: Donny van de Beek – 6/10
The Dutch talent retained possession well in midfield and was always trying to create openings for others around him.
CM: Paul Pogba – 6/10
The French midfielder was responsible for heading the ball onto Maguire who unintentionally scored from close range.
CM: Brandon Williams – 6/10
He was lively after coming on to the field.
CB: Axel Tuanzebe – 6/10
Tuanzebe didn’t do too much wrong during his time on the pitch.
CB: Timothy Fosu-Mensah – 5/10
He struggled to get into the game.
