ELANGA SECURES A CRUCIAL DRAW FOR MANCHESTER UNITED IN MADRID TO KEEP THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HOPES ALIVE

 

Die Meister (The Masters)

Die Besten (The Best)

Les grandes équipes (The biggest teams)

The Champions!🎶🎶

With that iconic anthem, UEFA Champions League was back in action on Wednesday night as Manchester United came up against Atlético Madrid in Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.

Didn't really turn out to be an entertaining match, but wasn't a boring one either. Both Atlético Madrid and the Red Devils are having an underwhelming season and therefore, it was hard to say who the favourites would be. Still, based on current form, Manchester United were the better team coming into this game. However, as quite often the case has been with the Red Devils, they were abysmal and gave in one of their worst performance in the first half of this match. Since 2005/06 season in the Champions League, for the first time, United wasn't able to take a touch in the opposition's box in the whole 1st half. That's how terrible they were.

For the very first time under Ralf Rangnick, United fielded out a formation with 3 centre backs. Lindelöf was used as a makeshift right back which didn't really make any sense to me considering the fact that we had 2 fully fit right backs available in Dalot and Wan-Bissaka. David De Gea was put between the sticks behind a backline of Shaw-Maguire-Varane-Lindelöf. Bruno played as an attacking midfielder infront of a double pivot of Fred and Pogba. Ronaldo was the main man upfront with Sancho and Rashford on the left and right wing respectively. Rangnick's gamble to play 3 at the back didnt really pay off. Making such major changes in the team, that too in an away knockout stage fixture is not a smart thing to do in my opinion. 

United came into this game thinking that they would have all the ball and Atlético will just sit back and wait to pounce on any mistake from their opponent. But to their surprise, Atlético came out in the first half attacking and ended up scoring a goal within the first 10 minutes as Maguire couldn't mark the run of João Félix and he scored a beautiful header from close range. Harry Maguire seriously needs to be dropped. There are some major flaws in his defending and game reading skills. The one thing he's good at is winning aerial duels and he doesn't even do that in this match.

Anthony Elanga came in for Marcus Rashford in the 75th minute who was having a horrendous game. Elanga brought the much needed energy into this game. Credit to him as he scored the equaliser in the 80th minute and saved Man Utd. It was a quick break that caught Ateltico out, with Fred picking out Fernandes, who made a great through pass to Elanga. Reinildo tried to intercept the pass but missed it which left the teenager in a 1V1 situation with Oblak. A calm and composed finish by Elanga brought the scoreline to 1-1. He deserves to be in the starting 11 as he is ten times the player Rashford is right now.

Here are some my random observations from this incredible fixture-

•  Till 77th minute, Utd had 0 shots on target. That's unacceptable. 
•  Sancho wasn't that good offensively but he did track back quite often to help the team defensively. 
•  Bruno had a night to forget and struggled to make an impact. However, it takes just a moment for him to change the match and he did that by providing the assist for the equalizer in the 80th minute.
•  Herrera and Kondogbia were given the job to disrupt Man Utd midfield and prevent them from getting into the rhythm. And well, they did just that. Kondogbia was bossing the midfield area as he won 9/10 ground duels giving no breathing space to the Utd midfield. Bruno was losing balls left, right and centre. He struggled to get going and cut a frustrated figure throughout the match.

•  Man Utd gave away the ball 61 times in the first half. Now that's a horrendous number for a club of any stature.
•  United's talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo, seemed lost in the 1st half but got involved more in the 2nd half when Utd started to play better. Didn't really get the service that he needed to make an impact, however, we do expect more from a player of his caliber. Had to drop deep to get the ball at his feet and was fouled quite alot of times which prevented him to really get into the game. The thing with Cristiano is that, at this stage of his career, his performance is very much dependent on how well his teammates perform. Yes, he still has the ability to score a goal out of nothing but his overall game, more often than not, depends on the players around him. That's the reason why Ronaldo had a better 2nd half in this match as the Red Devils, in general, performed better then.

•  Paul Scholes : "I think they got bullied physically. They weren't ready for Atlético". Sums up my point perfectly.
•  Luke shaw attempted a grand total of 1 cross throughout the match and that too was over hit from one side of the pitch to another.
•  Alex Telles was substituted for Luke Shaw and provided the attacking threat that Utd desperately needed. He bombarded the Atlético box with crosses and created trouble for them.
•  We seriously need to have a conversation about Marcus Rashford. He seemed clueless throughout the match. Couldn't beat a single defender in 1v1 situations and didn't have his shooting boots on as well. His habit of not tracking back doesn't help the team either.
•  Terrible positioning from Oblak on that Elanga goal. Sums up his whole season.
•  Substitutions came in quite late in my opinion. Matić came in for Paul Pogba and brought in the much needed control in the middle of the park. 
•  The one thing that saved Man Utd from losing this match by atleast a 2 goal margin was the goal post. Atlético was much more threatening when they attacked and ended up hitting the post 2 times.
•  Fact: With that goal by Elanga, Utd has become only the 4th club in history to score 500 goals in the UEFA Champions League after Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Now that's something. 

This is actually a good result for Manchester United considering how poor they were. However, the fact that they will play the next leg in Old Trafford in front of 70000 fans cheering them on gives them the upperhand. Both the teams have all to play for in the 2nd leg.

The game is well and truly on!