It won’t
brighten Jose Mourinho’s mood to know that Manchester United lost to two
goals of stunning quality in the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. He arrived in
Turkey looking downcast and will leave all the more unhappy for what
happened here.
United’s
poor run of form continued with a Europa League defeat to Fenerbahce
who went ahead after just 65 seconds with a marvellous overhead kick
from Moussa Sow and secured victory in a bad-tempered encounter with a
freekick from Jeremain Lens in the second half.
Wayne
Rooney scored a late consolation with another great strike – equalling
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of 38 goals in Europe for United – but it
was not enough to change the outcome of this game.
Excluding
qualifiers, it was United’s eighth defeat in their last nine games in
Europe. The other was a draw. It also pushed Mourinho’s side into third
place in Group A and out of the qualifying spots in a competition he
would gladly see the back of.
More
painful was the sight of world record signing Paul Pogba limping off
after half an hour which could jeopardise his chances of playing at
Swansea on Sunday when Mourinho will serve a touchline ban and be
confined to the stands. It’s unlikely to be quite as hostile in South
Wales as what he encountered here.
Istanbul
no longer evokes quite the same trepidation as the place that famously
welcomed Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to hell in 1993 but there are few
nations in world football capable of making such a din, even when the
visitors came out to warm up three quarters of an hour before kick-off.
It
certainly promised to be a significantly greater test for United than a
4-1 victory when the two teams met at Old Trafford a fortnight ago.
Fenerbahce started the night unbeaten in their last seven Europa League
games at home, having won five of them.
Mourinho
again went for a strong line-up in this competition, making three
changes from Saturday’s goalless draw with Burnley as Wayne Rooney,
Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin replaced Zlatan Ibrahimovic,
Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata.
There
were also two notable names on the bench in Phil Jones and Henrikh
Mkhitaryan. Jones had not been seen in action for United since January 2
due to a succession of injuries, while £26.3million summer signing
Mkhitaryan had not been since the derby defeat by Manchester City almost
two months ago.
‘We
are a bit in trouble,’ said Mourinho before kick-off, referring to the
loss of three defenders in Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly and Chris
Smalling. ‘The injuries are not easy ones, they are all in the same
area. These boys are coping well. They have kept two clean sheets and
Phil Jones is making an effort to be ready in case of an emergency.’
Yet
United found themselves behind to a quite stunning goal with just one
minute and five seconds on the clock. Play was spread wide to left back
Hasan Ali Kaldirim on the touchline and he swung a cross towards the
edge of the penalty box.
The Senegal international kisses the floor with a team-mate in celebration of his brilliant goal in the second minute in Turkey
Marcos Rojo
failed to make any kind of challenge on Sow who went airborne, meeting
the ball with a perfectly-executed overhead kick off his right boot. The
ball arced over David de Gea and went in off the underside of the bar.
Mourinho
clapped his hands to encourage his team but he might as well have been
applauding the goal because it was certainly one to savour.
The
noise in the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium went up another level and so too
did Fenerbahce. When the troublesome Alper Potuk cut inside Schneiderlin
in the 12th minute only to be brought down by the Frenchman, it was
perilously close to the penalty box. The official behind the goal got it
right and Schneiderlin got a booking before Potuk’s free-kick was met
with a header over the bar by Mehmet Topal.
Ander
Herrera, sent off for two yellow cards against Burnley at the weekend,
was next into Serbian referee Milorad Maciz’s book for tripping Souza.
United’s
first real sight of goal did not arrive until the 21st minute when
Martial’s clever reverse pass found Rooney onside and in space. In years
gone by, there would probably have been one outcome but what happened
next summed up the England’s captain’s form at the moment
Martial
almost succeeded as he cut inside and crossed for Rooney to glance a
header narrowly wide in the 55th minute, and then Mata drilled a shot
past the same post from a goalmouth scramble moments later.
But
United were stunned by a second Fenerbahce goal against the run of play
in the 59th minute. It came after Ibrahimovic fouled Topal as he
tracked back to try and halt the defender’s run in the 59th minute.
Jeremain Lens lined up the free-kick 25 yards from goal, curling it over
the wall and into the top corner with De Gea rooted to the spot. It was
another goal of genuine quality, if slightly unfair harsh on Mourinho’s
side.
They
could easily have conceded more after that, however, as Fenerbahce
substitute Emmanuel Eminike went close three times in the dying minutes.
De Gea denied Eminike at point-blank range after he barged his way
through, got down low to keep out his shot from 20 yards, and then saw
the striker just fail to connect with Lens’s cross to the far post with
the goal gaping.
Rooney
at least gave United something to show for their efforts when he
thundered home a great diagonal shot in the 89th minute to equal Van
Nistelrooy’s record. It also puts him two off Sir Bobby Charlton’s
all-time best. But that will be little consolation to Mourinho and his
players right now.
About Sporttysam
0 comments:
Post a Comment