"Biggest fraud in the history of football", "Absolutely schooled" - Manchester United fans slam star for his showing in 3-3 Porto draw
Manchester United fans on X have blasted Matthijs de Ligt after he had a poor outing in their 3-3 draw to Porto in the UEFA Europa League. The two sides faced each other at the Estádio do Dragão on Thursday, October 3.
The Red Devils made a bright start to the contest as Marcus Rashford broke the deadlock in the seventh minute with a low finish. Rashford then assisted Rasmus Hojlund 13 minutes later, who made no mistake from close range to double their advantage.
However, Manchester United completely capitulated in the 27th minute when De Ligt failed to clear his lines. This led to Pepe scoring from the rebound after Andre Onana made a top save. Samu Omorodion powerfully headed the ball into the back of the net in the 34th minute to make it 2-2.
De Ligt failed to effectively mark Omorodion throughout the game and this was evident when the latter found the top-right corner in the 50th minute to make it 3-2 for Porto. Bruno Fernandes was sent off in his second game in a row (81') for a poor foul. However, Harry Maguire headed home late on (90+1') to rescue a point for Manchester United.
De Ligt was arguably the Red Devils' weakest link against Porto and was substituted in the 79th minute for Jonny Evans. The 25-year-old - who was signed from Bayern Munich this summer for €45 million - made zero tackles and missed one big chance to score.
One Manchester United fan posted:
"De Ligt was awful tonight, absolutely schooled, Munich don’t sell good players"
Another fan reckons Maguire is still a better defender than the former Bayern Munich star:
"Told y'all about De ligt though. The fridge is 5x better than him"
Another typed:
"Biggest fraud in this history of football after Messi WC"
Check out how other fans reacted below:
"De ligt is not a good player I don’t care what anyone says," one fan commented
"De Ligt was horrendous today," another added
"I see why bayern sold de ligt," one fan admitted
"Samu Omorodion has absolutely fried De Ligt today he can’t contain him," another tweeted
"I think man united fans might just be realising why De Ligt didn’t make it at Juve or Bayern….." another chimed in
How did Manchester United fare in their 3-3 draw against Porto in the UEFA Europa League?
Manchester United's struggles under Erik ten Hag continued as they scraped out a 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League. The Dutchman has only won three out of his nine games in charge across competitions this season and the Red Devils are currently 21st in the UEL standings with two points from two games.
Ten Hag and Co. had more possession with 53 percent of the ball, despite being reduced to 10 men late on. They also completed 434 passes with an accuracy of 89 percent. In contrast, the hosts had 47 percent possession, completing 354 passes with an accuracy of 84 percent.
Manchester United also landed 29 shots in total, with eight being on target (xG of 1.38). However, their structure never looked convincing - a factor that Porto took full advantage of. The latter landed 14 shots in total, with seven being on target, garnering a higher xG of 2.29.