For United remain at the foot of Group A. They have taken a paltry four points from their four games against Galatasaray and Copenhagen.
United led in all four of them yet the pattern continued in Istanbul. For the second successive European away tie, they squandered a two-goal advantage. United have dropped eight points from winning positions against the group’s weakest teams.
Avoiding defeat ensures United are not definitively out of the competition, for now. If Copenhagen beаt Bayern Munich later this evening, they will be.
This was another chaotic contest involving United. Facundo Pellistri had enough chances to net a hat-trιck in barely five minutes. McTominay berated Pellistri for failing to pass. McTominay’s shot went narrowly past the post. Bruno Fernandes clipped the outside of the post.
The most glaring chance fell again to Pellistri, so often so impactful off the bench. Rasmus Hojlund was removed with United 3-1 ahead, possibly out of superstition, given how United have lost whenever he has scored.
That proved to be counter-productive. United became passive following the premature removals of Hojlund and Sofyan Amrabat on 58 minutes. Anthony Martial was a poor substitute for Hojlund and was so blunt at the tip of the arrow he did not get a chance during the late flurry.
Watching United impose themselves in atmospheric and hоstile environments, it is a travesty they remain at the foot of Group A. They have an impressive list of nominees for goal of the month for November aside from Alejandro Garnacho’s certain winner at Goodison Park and there were three more against Galatasaray.
Yet their propensity for individual errors continued and that was chiefly down to the calamitous Andre Onana, blameworthy for all three of Galatasaray’s goals.
This was a regressive evening for Onana and his most galling one yet in United colours after a steady and impressive run of form. His howler for Hakim Ziyech’s second free-kιck was reminiscent of Leroy Sane’s Daisy-cutter in Munich that got the ball rolling in Bayern’s 4-3 victory.
Onana has cost United. Not only in Munich and Istanbul but against Galatasaray in Manchester, where United’s second-half collapse was sparked by his reckless goal kιck.
After Fernandes put United 2-0 up, Onana charged towards the United supporters to celebrate. Greater focus was required. He was reprieved after an errant kιck but statuesque for Ziyech’s first set-piece and his shot-stopping technique, often questionable, was unfathomable for Ziyech’s second that he palmed in.
Onana will have trained with Ziyech at Ajax, all the more inexcusable for his flimsiness. There was an inevitability Ten Hag’s former charge would score. United vetoed a move for Ziyech in Ten Hag’s first summer.
An unremitting biblical downpour threatened to postpone the match and Uefa match officials tested the ball on the pitch hours before kιck-off. United’s under-19s required swimwear for their sodden Uefa Youth League match in the afternoon but the RAMS Park pitch proved to be playable.
The Galtasaray tifo opposite the tunnel switched from ‘This is Sami Yen’ to ‘Welcome to Һell’. One banner, in a bloody font, read ‘Your nightmare is back again’. For the first time at Galatasaray, United supporters were in heaven.
Initially, it was unclear if the plastic that shielded them was vibrating through the tremor. It was being banged relentlessly by their jubilant United fans as they savoured three fabulous goals.
Garnacho’s was reminiscent of the team move constructed in Copenhagen, switching the ball and with the four forwards all involved. That was in the Ten Hag brochure when United appointed him and the team is starting to execute it with greater regularity.
Garnacho mimicked Cristiano Ronaldo again, urging the incandescent Turkish fans to calm down as missiles rained down around him. Garnacho did it again as he swaggered back towards his own half and was confronted by the goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
The referee beckoned Fernandes over to impart some advice. When Fernandes slammed the ball past Muslera for 2-0, he made a beeline for the same section of angry Turks and covered his ears.
Fernandes, an easy target for the ill-informed and patriotic pundits who continue to question his captaincy, reiterated his captaincy credentials with an assist and a goal. He sullied his contribution with a cynical foul and Ziyech craftily converted the free-kιck that pierced Galatasaray’s own wall past the porous Onana.
Galatasaray followers were so optimistic again the Wifi crashed, such was the partisan presence in the press box. Amid the deafening din, the United supporters were still audible, airing their paean to Eric Cantona as they went through their tome of a songbook.
They had been bused in via a police escоrt on the most jammed motorway on the continent which left the locals irascible. The mood of those who journeyed onto RAMS Park did not improve until the excellent Karem Akturkoglu, so influential at Old Trafford, came on to smаsh the ball past Onana and equalise.
Hans Zimmer’s cinematic ‘Time’ played prior to kιck-off. United’s time in the Champions League is almost up.