RUDE AWAKENI
Pogba sees red as PSG inflict a first defeat on Ole
FIFTY four days. It had to happen eventually. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has lost a game as Manchester United manager. There won’t feel like a bright side to look on, given the magnitude of this competition, but at least Solskjaer didn’t lose to mugs. This wasn’t an upset, this wasn’t a travesty.
What is inescapable after a performance of this magnitude is that Paris St Germain are one of the finest sides in Europe, even without Neymar and Edinson Cavani. They were by far the better team on the night and could grow to be European champions.
Manchester United were undone by an excellent team display, plus the individual excellence of two players in particular. Kylian Mbappe’s pace and goalscoring smarts make him the best young striker in the world right now, while Angel di Maria was on a revenge mission, desperate to show Old Trafford what they had missed in his brief time here.
He did, too, making both goals. His celebrations suggested he enjoyed proving the point, too.
Both goals came in the secondhalf, PSG having also had the best chance of the first. Injury left Solskjaer reshaping United’s forward line but it was at the back that they were undone — poor marking for the first, a mismatch of a foot race for the second.
PSG dispatched them in a sixminute spell.
The opening goal came from a right-sided corner, after David de Gea had tipped away a Mbappe header from a Dani Alves cross. Di Maria curled it in and defender Presnel Kimpembe got in behind Nemanja Matic to volley the ball past De Gea from close range. Whether he should have been on the field having committed several fouls and been the game’s first booking is another matter.
That controversy was put to bed, however, by the second goal. A sublime cross from Di Maria was executed perfectly by Mbappe, opening his body to sidefoot the ball first-time past De Gea. He should have had another immedi- ately after, again put through by Di Maria and outstripping Victor Lindelof before De Gea made a fine save as the striker attempted a Messi-style low lob.
By the end Old Trafford was silent bar the raucous noise of the visitors. It had been a sobering experience. Not a stain on Solskjaer’s reign — just a reminder that while they have a come a long way in 54 days, there is still some distance to travel.
Short-term, at least, it will have to be travelled without Paul Pogba, who capped a miserable night with a second yellow card for a nasty foul on Julian Draxler, even if it appeared referee Daniele Orsato had first dismissed Ashley Young in error. It wouldn’t surprise. He wasn’t very good.
Much like United, referee Orsato started off guns blazing and then lost his way a little — in as much as he booked five players in quick succession, and then lacked the gumption to upgrade to red when the situation demanded.
Young was booked, rightly, for a foul on Kylian Mbappe after 29 minutes. Then, 11 minutes later, he committed a second offence that while not regarded as serious, could have resulted in significant injury.
Pushing is one of football’s minor offences — but not when it is an overt shove in the back of a player already travelling at high speed, on a pitch with a notoriously steep run-off and hoarding and metal fences in close proximity to the playing area.
The ball was as good as dead when Young took this liberty with Angel di Maria, who was sent cascading into a barrier, unable to slow or properly protect himself. He could have broken an arm, or several ribs. He could have smashed his face in, fractured his skull. Young had absolutely no control over the consequence of his action. He should have gone.
Instead, Orsata chickened out. Maybe he would have shown a yellow card in different circumstances, but with Young booked either he misjudged the potential seriousness of the incident, or confidence failed him.
Kimpembe, having already been booked, then committed a second offence that was equally reprehensible but, for reasons unknown, was not deemed worthy of a second card.
United started at a furious lick, clearly under instruction to unnerve PSG. Not that it yielded a great deal. United didn’t really have a clear shot at goal in the opening 45 minutes, their best chances coming from two crosses, even if one did end up goalbound.
That was in the eighth minute when Young worked the ball through to Marcus Rashford and he hit a cross-shot, slightly skewed
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER was given a reality check in the Champions League last night when he suffered his first defeat as Manchester United boss.
Two goals in the second half by Presnel Kimpembe and the brilliant Kylian Mbappe were enough for Paris SaintGermain to inflict United’s heaviest ever home defeat in Europe.
Paul Pogba was also shown a second yellow card for a lunge on Dani Alves, meaning he will miss the second leg.