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Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has expressed disappointment following his team’s departure from the Champions League. The Red Devils lost 3-2 to RB Leipzig in their European showdown on Tuesday night. And now they will play in the Europa League, after finishing third in the group behind their Bundesliga opponents and Paris Saint-Germain.
United entered the game knowing that a point would see them reach the knockout stages of the Champions League.
However, the Red Devils slipped to defeat on a penalty night of soccer.
Goals from Angelino, Amadou Haidara and Justin Kluivert gave the Bundesliga team all three points, with Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba on goal for the visitors.
And, speaking after the game, Solskjaer criticized his players for their poor start.
He said: “We started too late. Great spirit and I’m back again but different from the Premier League. You can’t give a team a three-goal lead and expect it to come back.
“Too late. Unfortunate towards the end. I thought the character and the effort were there. I thought I was at the end.
“We weren’t good enough. In a difficult group, of course, we started very well in this group, but the big loss for us was the loss outside of Istanbul.
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“That’s the one we look back on and lost the points we should have had. Today we were close, we knew we had to defend centers and balls in the area but we couldn’t clear them ”.
“As a footballer, you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” he continued.
“You have to feel sorry for yourself for a few minutes tonight, but we have to focus on Saturday. We have a great game on Saturday, that’s the one we have to wait for ”.
United captain Harry Maguire expressed his opinion on the loss after the game, saying: “We started the game too slow.
“It was not good enough. The first 20 minutes we were not in it. They put two balls in the box and we couldn’t take care of them.
“We have to look at ourselves, we gave ourselves too much to do. You’ve seen how close we came to the end, but we started too slow and we can’t keep falling behind.
“We said Saturday at halftime, 2-0 down, the next goal is crucial and we said it again tonight.
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“They made it 3-0 and the task becomes even bigger. The third goal turned out to be the crucial one, but even with three less we were close to the end.
“I don’t want to make excuses. We have to go out there and be aggressive, win balls. That’s the basics.
“If you can’t defend crosses you are going to lose games. I don’t want to look at the shape, it’s not an excuse.
“It’s a tough group, but we feel like we should pass. Those are the standards of this club.
“I am devastated by everyone, we worked very hard to get to this competition. No matter what group we have, it will be difficult. We have to do more. “
United legend Phil Neville backed Maguire’s comments, criticizing his former team for their poor start to play.
“It went wrong in the first 30 minutes, they were all over the place,” Neville said.
“Leipzig improved it tactically.
“When Donny van de Beek and Paul Pogba arrived, they got some control of the game, but for the first 30 minutes they were absolutely everywhere.
“Going one goal back at two minutes and a soft goal 10 minutes later to go down 2-0 left them a mountain to climb.
“They have a tremendous spirit and they defend themselves, but against the best teams you can’t lose 3-0.”
Then he added: “Manchester United have fallen completely short due to their consistency.
“Why does it take to go to one goal, two goals against, 3-0 against tonight before they really throw caution to the wind, lose their shackles and drop everything and start to move forward and show their true qualities.
“They defended in the last four or five games, but eventually you will lose a game like that.“
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