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MANCHESTER, England – There is no hiding place in the Champions League. If you are not ruthless and decisive in key moments, the only guarantee is that you will pay a high price. It gets even worse when you add naivety to the mix, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Manchester United found out at their expense with a 3-1 loss at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
United have shown great promise at times in the Champions League this season by winning in Paris and beating RB Leipzig 5-0, but they have also shown inexperience and ineptitude – the chaotic defense while losing to Istanbul Basaksehir was a low point in particular – and the shortcomings of their players and coach came to light once again against PSG.
Solskjaer’s side entered this Group H clash knowing that a draw would secure qualification for the round of 16 before next week’s trip to Leipzig. But missed opportunities by United forwards and an inexplicable decision by Solskjaer not to replace midfielder Fred as he headed headlong into an inevitable red card allowed PSG to claim the victory that revives their own qualifying hopes and leaves United with the need to avoid defeat in Germany on Tuesday. to move on to the knockout stages.
They may have to do it without Marcus Rashford as well, as the forward was forced to retire with a shoulder injury late in the second half.
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“We entered a game wanting to win,” Solskjaer said after the match. “The games against PSG and Leipzig show how much we have developed in these types of games. It was about to end today.”
Solskjaer’s United have proven to be so spectacularly unpredictable that it would be foolish to bet against any outcome when they face Julian Nagelsmann’s team in six days, but they really shouldn’t travel to that game that needs a qualifying point. .
Last month’s defeat in Istanbul now looks hugely detrimental to United’s hopes as the Turkish side lost every other match in the group. That defeat left United vulnerable to another setback and PSG made sure they suffered it at Old Trafford, with two goals from Neymar and one from Marquinhos giving the French champions a rather flattering margin of victory.
But United are now in a mess of their own making, which began in Turkey and culminated in Solskjaer’s failure to replace Fred at halftime in this game while the score was 1-1, thanks to Rashford’s deflected draw.
Everyone inside Old Trafford could see that Fred was walking the tightrope from the moment he escaped a red card for shoving his head in Leandro Paredes’ face in 20 minutes. Referee Daniele Orsato reviewed the incident on the field monitor before deciding to just issue a yellow card to the United midfielder. It was an incredibly lucky break for Fred, but at halftime, he had also somehow avoided a second yellow card after reckless challenges from Marco Verratti and Paredes again.
Any manager, not even an experienced one, would normally retire Fred in the interval to avoid the risk of his being expelled.
United has a history of being hit by expensive red cards in Champions League matches at Old Trafford. Rafael da Silva (against Bayern Munich in 2010), Nani (Real Madrid 2013) and Paul Pogba (PSG 2019) were sent off in matches that ended in defeat or elimination for United.
Solskjaer should know that red cards in the Champions League are often punished by ruthless opponents, so he should have replaced Fred with Pogba or Nemanja Matic and protect his team. His subsequent admission that he thought about retiring Fred at halftime, before deciding against it, doesn’t do Solskjaer many favors.
“Fred shouldn’t put his head towards him [in the first half]”Solskjaer said, when asked about Paredes’ apparent headbutt.” I don’t think I touched it. He was a bit lucky to stay. “
So did you think about taking it off?
“Yes … Fred has played very well,” Solskjaer said. “We talked about staying calm and standing. The second yellow card was not a foul at all. Ander [Herrera] Know that.”
Admittedly, when Fred was sacked in the 70th minute for a sloppy challenge on Herrera, United had missed two clear opportunities to take the lead. Anthony Martial missed those two golden opportunities to score, once again highlighting that he lacks the cool ability of a truly elite forward to hit the back of the net. If Martial had scored any of those second-half chances, United would have gone ahead 2-1 and in position to kill the game. But the reality was different, with Marquinhos regaining PSG’s lead after another United failure to defend a corner correctly.
“If Marquinhos had had bigger studs, he would have been offside,” Solskjaer said, before adding unconvincingly: “You can’t really point to the deciding factors.”
The goal came a minute before Fred was sent off, so United’s hopes were literally dashed in 60 seconds.
But this is where the finger of blame points towards Solskjaer because Fred should have been eliminated at that stage. The consequence of his stay on the field to be sent off meant that United had to play the final 20 minutes with 10 men against one of the best attacking teams in Europe, but it was a self-inflicted injury because Solskjaer should have eliminated that eventuality. of the equation. The only surprise was that it took PSG another 20 minutes to score again, with Neymar’s goal in injury time ensuring that the Parisian club now have the head-to-head advantage over United.
This is not the first time that United have suffered from poor results and poor management decisions in Europe. They also overshadowed Sir Alex Ferguson’s failures in the Champions League. But there is nothing worse than a defeat that has been influenced by your own decisions and Solskjaer, once again, has been shown lacking at the highest level.
