Erik ten Hag’s men had one objective at Galatasaray’s Rams Park, and that was to win. Only a victory would keep their hopes alive of finishing in second place of Group A, and they encountered a deafening atmosphere, making it an even more intense task.
Despite the intimidating noise being made by the home fans, the visitors started well and opened the scoring inside 11 minutes.
Bruno Fernandes played a one-two with Rasmus Hojlund in the box and then played in Alejandro Garnacho, who took a touch and then lashed the ball into the roof of the net, marking two exceptional goals in two games.
The positive start for United didn’t silence the home crowd, but a second goal in the 18th minute rather did, as United captain Fernandes let fly from distance, rifling a sublime effort past Fernando Muslera.
The scoring didn’t end there though, and the Turkish outfit halved the deficit, as Hakim Ziyech curled a clinical low free kick past a bamboozled Andre Onana.
With United suddenly finding themselves on the proverbial ropes, fears of a Copenhagen-style collapse seemed well-founded, as Mauro Icardi emphatically finished past Onana. However, the goal was chalked off for a narrow offside call, ensuring Ten Hag’s men went into the half-time break with the lead for the first time in the UCL this campaign.
Okan Burak’s side came flying out for the second half, and almost restored parity immediately, but Kaan Ayhan could only find the side netting.
In response, United broke forward and netted a third. Antony drove towards goal and played in Aaron Wan-Bisakka down the right flank, and the full back’s ball into the box was prodded home by the onrushing Scott McTominay.
With their two-goal lead restored, United looked in control, but they were soon pegged back yet again. Hardly able to believe his luck, Ziyech was gifted a second goal of the evening in bizarre circumstances, after a floated free kick into the box was flapped in by Onana.
The Cameroon international was helpless in preventing the Lions from netting a third goal, as Ziyech picked out Kerem Akturkoglu, whose first touch took him away from goal but he still showed incredible composure to lash the ball from a tight angle and send the home crowd into bedlam.
Despite both sides going flat out in search of a winning goal, neither found the elusive winner and had to settle for a draw.
The result leaves United hanging on by a thread in the UCL and will need results to go their way along with victory against Bayern Munich, whilst Galatasaray simply need to beat Copenhagen to progress.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Hakim Ziyech (Galatasaray)
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PSV come back to stun 10-man Sevilla
In the other early fixture of the evening, in Group B, PSV came back from 2-0 down away at Sevilla to win 3-2 thanks to a late-late winner.
The Andalusians looked in cruise control before losing Lucas Ocampos to a red card after the hour mark, sparking PSV’s stunning comeback. The result means the Spanish outfit can no longer progress to the knockout stages.
Read a full report and see all the stats here.
