Manchester United were leading 1-0 when Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off for a straight red, as the Red Devils eventually ended up losing the match 2-1.
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Manchester United had a disappointing start to the new Champions League season after suffering a 2-1 loss to Young Boys at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, Switzerland. United were leading 1-0 when Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off for a straight red, as the Red Devils eventually ended up losing the match 2-1. New recruit Cristiano Ronaldo scored for a second game running, but the team failed to build on the momentum, as they lost the game in the second half due to two goals. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer outlined his disappointment at his side’s defeat in the opening fixture of Europe’s elite competition. However, the Norwegian insisted that there is plenty of time to bounce back from the shock defeat.
“It looked like a well-earned point and a good point in a difficult game. When you get the first goal you think you’ve got a great chance, it’s enough to win the game but unfortunately that sending off will always have an impact,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said after the match. “Aaron gets a touch that’s too far, and he gets the ball but he follows through. It’s hard to argue against the referee but then again he didn’t go through his ankle, he hit him on the top of his foot. It was never a malicious tackle.”
A tough one to take tonight, but there’s a long way to go in the #UCL.
Thanks to our travelling fans for your magnificent support – as always ?#MUFC pic.twitter.com/zPluteqdC9
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 14, 2021
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer changed the tactics in the second half, taking off Cristiano Ronaldo, Donny van de Beek, among others and brought on the likes of Raphael Varane and Jesse Lingard. Speaking about it, Ole said, “You saw the signs towards the end of the first half that they were going switch it and get crosses in with the wing-backs. I thought we coped really well. We were a bit lazy going out and blocking the cross for the first goal, a bit unlucky because it then gets deflected off Luke, and then the last goal, that’s just unfortunate.”
It was Lingard’s mistimed back pass handed Young Boys the late winner at the Wankdorf Stadium on Tuesday night. Lingard’s careless back pass in the dying seconds of the match left Jordan Pefok through on goal and the American made no mistake, as he slotted the ball past David De Gea. However, Solskjaer believes that the English midfielder will bounce back from this disappointment.
“That happens in a game. That’s football. Up and downs. You’ve got big moments, you’ve got moments that go for you and against you. He’ll handle that one, and we’ll handle it,” he added.
Despite the defeat, the manager still remains upbeat about their prospect of qualifying from the group stage of the Champions League. “We need 12 points to go through. You need to win your home games, win one away from home and go through. A missed opportunity tonight, of course, but then again last year we won our first two games against PSG and Red Bull [Leipzig] and everyone thought we were through. So we have five games to get the 10 or 12 points,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explained.
