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Anchester United’s Champions League campaign is on the line, as two goals from Neymar helped Paris St-Germain secure victory at Old Trafford.
Marcus Rashford had canceled the Brazilian’s first game with his third goal in four games against the French team.
But Marquinos’ excellent shot in the second half put the visitors in front and after United midfielder Fred was sent off for a foul on Ander Herrera, Neymar scored his 38th goal in the Champions League.
The result leaves United tied with PSG and RB Leipzig within nine points in Group H and knowing they need a draw with the German team next Tuesday to advance to the round of 16.
Rashford pain, Neymar wins for PSG
In preparation for the game, PSG boss Thomas Tuchel admitted that Rashford had become “a bit upset.”
The sentiment was perfectly understandable given that two seasons ago the England forward scored the injury-time penalty that knocked out PSG, despite having won the first leg of their round of 16 tie 2-0 at Old Trafford.
Rashford was also responsible for United’s goal in the 87th minute in the French capital on Matchday 1.
So it’s fair to assume that Tuchel’s eyesight only hardened when Rashford’s shot, after Kaylor Navas parried an effort by Anthony Martial, caused the keeper to miss completely and ended up in the bottom corner.
The goal matched Neymar’s well-done effort in the sixth minute and brought Rashford’s tally in this season’s competition to six, on the level of players like Erling Haaland and former United teammate Romelu Lukaku.
Had Martial not shot himself when he was presented with an open goal when the second half was still in its infancy, or had finished the rebound when Edinson Cavani’s delicate chip returned to the crossbar, instead of crashing it into Marquinos, PSG could have done it. life sucked them.
Anyway, it was they who armed themselves with steam when Ander Herrera’s deflected shot turned into Marquinos’ path and put them back in front.
United pressed for an equalizer and substitute Paul Pogba was close when he volleyed from the edge of the area but with an extra man PSG always had the upper hand and after Kylian Mbappé shot wide, Neymar finished off the hosts.
With 38 goals, he is now two behind Sergio Agüero, who is the second highest South American scorer in the competition.
Solskjaer’s big mistake
Big question marks loom over Solskjaer after this result.
While the United manager can legitimately argue that the warning that caused Fred to be sent off was debatable (he shouted for a VAR control but they do not intervene in yellow card decisions), he can hardly claim that the Brazilian did not deserve to be sent off in sometime the game.
The biggest flash point came when he faced Leandro Paredes shortly before Rashford’s draw.
As the pair faced each other, Fred seemed to push his head towards Paredes, who fell clutching his face. Italian referee Daniele Orsati stepped up to the screen to check what had happened but, to Tuchel’s disbelief, he only issued a yellow card.
When the same couple met again shortly after, Orsati ruled that Paredes was the aggressor and warned him, even though Fred ended up standing on top of his opponent.
Given that Neymar got angry and addressed the referee for a long talk at halftime, after he was separated from Scott McTominay, it felt like an obvious decision to replace Fred, especially since Solskjaer had five substitutes at his disposal.
Instead, Fred returned for the second period, leaving his coach to face the consequences, with PSG’s official Twitter feed announcing ‘finally’ when the Brazilian made his way prematurely to the locker room.
Rashford prolific but poor form at home – statistics
The visiting team has won all four UEFA Champions League games between Manchester United and Paris St-Germain. Excluding matches played at neutral venues, it is the first match in the competition’s history to see the first four matches won by the visiting team.
Manchester United have lost more of their eight home games in all competitions this season (4) than in 28 matches at Old Trafford last season (3).
Manchester United have lost four of their last seven Champions League (W3) home games, as many as in their previous 52 matches.
PSG have won their last two away games against English rivals in all competitions (both against Manchester United); They had only earned one of their first 10 such visits before this (D4 L5).
Manchester United’s last two Champions League red cards came at home to PSG (Pogba the other in February 2019), their only two such encounters with the French team.
Man Utd’s Fred was the 49th different Brazilian player to receive a Champions League red card; only France has had more different players sent off in the history of the competition (55).
At 05:45, Neymar’s first goal for PSG was the first Champions League goal conceded by Manchester United since September 2015, when Daniel Caligiuri scored against them after 03:53 with Wolfsburg.
Since their UEFA Champions League debut in 2013, only Cristiano Ronaldo (79), Robert Lewandowski (60) and Lionel Messi (59) have scored more goals in the competition than PSG’s Neymar (38). However, his double was the Brazilian’s first goal in his six Champions League away games against English clubs.
Marcus Rashford has scored more goals in five UEFA Champions League games for Man Utd this season (6) than he achieved in 18 competition appearances in his previous two seasons, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (5 ).
Rashford is the first Man Utd player to score in all three of their home games in a single UEFA Champions League group stage since Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2004-05. In fact, he is only the second Englishman to score six Champions League goals in a single group stage for any team, after Harry Kane in both 2017-18 and 2019-20 (six in both).
Whats Next?
Manchester United travel to West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday (17:30 GMT). That game will be the first high-level game to have fans since March.
