(Football news) Despite leading 2-0 and 3-1 in Turkey, Erik ten Hag’s team had to settle for a share of the spoils, which dropped them to the bottom of Group A before the last matchday.
Manchester United and third-place Copenhagen, who play already-qualified Bayern Munich later tonight, are tied on points (four), with Galatasaray moving up into second place with five points.
On December 12, the 20-time English champions will play their final group match against Bayern, while Copenhagen will play home to Galatasaray. The second place in the section is yet to be determined.
The intense rain in Istanbul raised serious concerns that the play might have to be postponed, but UEFA was always optimistic that the match would proceed as scheduled, and that turned out to be the case, under challenging circumstances.
Rasmus Hojlund, Antony, Sofyan Amrabat, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were the four players who Manchester United head coach Ten Hag started in place of the players from the weekend’s match against Everton. Meanwhile, Lucas Torreira, Wilfried Zaha, Hakim Ziyech, and Tanguy Ndombele were all familiar names on the Galatasaray lineup.
Within the first two minutes, Galatasaray had a half-chance when a quick break resulted in a shot on goal for Ziyech. However, Luke Shaw was across to make a fantastic block, and Torreira headed over from the ensuing corner.
After a quick start in an amazing atmosphere, Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana had to deny a strike from Mertens in the fourth minute. Hojlund then had an effort deflected wide of the post down the other end after meeting a cross from Alejandro Garnacho.
After Bruno Fernandes picked out his teammate with a deft pass through Sacha Boey’s knees, Garnacho scored a beautiful finish high into the roof of the net to give the Red Devils the lead in the 11th minute of play.
In the fifteenth minute, Torreira gave Galatasaray a chance to draw even, but Onana made a fantastic save to save the forward’s header from a corner. Later in the play, there was a review for a penalty for a handball on McTominay, but VAR overturned it.
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