Last-gasp United silence Old Lady:
Jose’s men the comeback kings in Turin
A HORROR show from Wojciech Szczesny, yes, but only after a much improved showing from Manchester United. They offered a remarkable comeback from both their first match against Juventus in this group and going behind to Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning opening goal here, to record a surprise 2-1 that may yet turn over this group too.
The late Alex Sandro own goal that Szczesny should have just batted away didn’t just deny Juventus a point, but also prevented them from confirming first place. United are now within two points of the Italians with two games remaining, after two dramatic late goals. Szczesny was probably at fault for the first, and definitely was for the second..
While that result may be harsh on a Juventus team that squandered so many chances before Juan Mata’s initial equaliser, it did reflect just how much better Mourinho’s team were from the 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
There at least was one big early change from the first leg, to go with United initially looking much more cohesive and committed. That match at Old Trafford had been characterised – and won – by Paulo Dybala’s untracked runs right through the centre, and this was clearly something Mourinho had addressed. That gap just didn’t appear this time, at least from that route. Whereas Nemanja Matic in that game just let Dybala race beyond him to score the only goal, the Serbian was here aggressive enough about everything to take the playmaker down much further back, and risk a booking in the opening few minutes. United did just look tighter in the centre, with Victor Lindelof winning some good early challenges.
Reduced
That also meant there were fewer good early chances for Juve, let alone an goal, as they were more frequently reduced to long shots.
Rodrigo Betancur had one that went wide early on, before Ronaldo attempted an effort that was from a similar distance to his famous goal for United against FC Porto in 2008-’09. It this time went wide, which is where Juve were increasingly forced.
It was also where they finally started to get more joy – and where that gap started to appear, as United did need some luck. David De Gea had to get down brilliantly to keep out a Juan Cuadrado cross that had wickedly deflected off Luke Shaw’s leg, but the goalkeeper was left standing there and stranded as a Sami Khedira effort bounced off the post from a Ronaldo ball. United were particularly fortunate it was the German there, rather than Dybala.
It was to be watched, because that was the first time one of the gaps from the first leg had appeared, as a side as intelligent as Juve looked for another route. Dybala soon made his way wide himself, with that allowing the playmaker to get away from Matic long enough to curl a shot off the crossbar.
United had some calculated bursts forward, but the way the game had changed with Juve in increasing control was signalled by an increasing irritation seeping into their game. Paul Pogba - who was far from at his best himself - berated teammates for slowing down an attack with needless sideways pass.
Juve might themselves have been frustrated by their inability to get behind United up to then, but they didn’t let it show in the same way. They let it show in the best way. They just did what quality sides do and kept
mance, but this time did warrant in terms of resilience and character.
It meant that, as Mata stepped up for that 86th-minute free-kick, there was still only one goal in it and little margin for error. That was proved with Szczesny. He didn’t exactly commit a howler here – that would soon follow – but the level of error was enough. He was too easily fooled by Young’s decoy run, with the goalkeeper’s sidestep meaning Mata’s free-kick didn’t even need to be planted in the corner. His curl was enough.
Young’s subsequent injury-time delivery, meanwhile, only seemed to need being sent in the general direction of Szczesny’s area. The goalkeeper patted feebly at it, ensuring the ball just bounced back in off Alex Sandro, who could do nothing.
It was more non-league than potential Champions League winners.
United don’t look like the latter, but do look so much better.
They got a big break here, of course, but a newly-emboldened side were in position to take advantage of that break. They were psychologically primed for it. Their position in the group now looks so much better, too. (© Independent News Service)