No Paris match for Pogba: Late red card rounds off awful United night
Pogba sees red as Solskjaer’s men fail French test
Paul Pogba challenges Dani Alves in the incident for which he received a second yellow card during Manchester United’s 2-0 defeat against Paris Saint Germain
THE Manchester United renaissance under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been an achievement of a certain kind but, while the club has been in its recent ice-age, the elite end of the European game has moved on and never was that more evident than last night.
A wave of confidence and attacking belief from a liberated United crashed against one of the most formidable sides in Europe, long in the development and, even without key players, one that was way ahead of the new United.
The first defeat for Solskjaer, 12 games in, was against an exceptional Paris St-Germain team and yet by the end it felt damaging indeed, with Paul Pogba dismissed for a second yellow card and out of the return leg on March6.
United were dominated in the second half, and it was their old boy Angel Di Maria, constantly booed by the home fans, who was the standout in the array of PSG stars. He created both goals in a seven-minute spell for first Presnel Kimpembe and then Kylian Mbappe. After a first half that was relatively even, it felt that PSG were playing football of a different kind.
Serious
There was no Neymar and no Edinson Cavani, but PSG picked off United expertly with no serious chances created by the home team. The experience of Dani Alves, operating as a left wing-back, and Marco Verratti, who ran the midfield, was telling. This was Champions League football played by grown-ups and when Mbappe turned on the jets it felt anything was possible.
An uphill struggle awaits United in Paris and it would take a monumental effort to turn this tie around. This is where years of wrong turns in managerial appointments and in the transfer market can take a club, and that point was driven home by the performance of Di Maria, once a record signing for United who lasted only a season at Old Trafford.
It felt like a European knockout game is supposed to feel at Old Trafford, from the moment Solskjaer’s players rushed into the first press. United were not always composed, and there were a couple of occasions when Solskjaer will have winced at the challenges of players already on bookings. But this smelt like a United performance.
It was a magnificent first half, one that ended with Ashley Young charging Di Maria down the slope in front of the South Stand and into the advertising hoardings, where the Argentine subsequently refused the hand of his former team-mate. There had been a few challenges like that and the game was on edge.
There were a couple of moments in that first half when Mbappe stretched his long legs and reminded everyone what that pace can do to a defence. In short, Victor Lindelof might not have caught him had he been riding a motorbike. Later on when Mbappe went down the left channel, Young decided he had no choice but to thrust a hand across the chest of the 20-yearold and spin him over.
At the other end, Marcus Rashford was just as dangerous, slowing Kimpembe down and then accelerat-
ing away to draw the foul and put the centre-back on a booking.
When Kimpembe lunged in on Luke Shaw later in the first half he could count himself lucky Italian referee Daniele Orsato decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was like that for a few of them, including Pogba, who seemed to forget he, too, was on a booking.
Nevertheless it was marvellous stuff and United, as they never did under Jose Mourinho, seemed to accept there would be times when they would be open in midfield. They played football higher up the pitch, took the game to their opposition and had a certain aggression and confidence that made them look instantly recognisable as a team who were trying to win a game, not just survive.
It was just in the closing stages of the half that Jesse Lingard, who had combined well with Rashford on counter-attacks, got up slowly from an overstretch. He tried to soldier on, but left shortly afterwards rubbing his left hamstring, replaced by Alexis Sanchez.
By the end of the interval, Anthony Martial was off too, replaced by Juan Mata, and whatever it was United had sustained in the first half seemed to fade quickly. Alves created the first chance for Mbappe after 53 minutes, a header that David de Gea turned round a post.
The first PSG goal arrived from the
ensuing corner struck by Di Maria to the back post, where Nemanja Matic had lost track of Kimpembe, who met the ball first time on the full and sent it into the roof of the net.
The game was PSG’s to control, and seven minutes later, they demonstrated that clearly. Played from Thilo Kehrer, the young full-back, and out to Di Maria on the left wing, he stroked his cross perfectly for the run of Mbappe. The striker emerged between two centre-backs to score from close range.
Whatever Young had tried to do to Di Maria, it had not worked and there was another chance he created for Mbappe that De Gea did well to save.
Pogba’s second yellow card felt like a tight decision given he and Alves seemed to collide, but this was not United’s night and their Champions League hopes are slipping away from them. (© Daily Telegraph, London)