"They are quite selfish players" - Paul Scholes slams Manchester United duo after Champions League exit
Manchester United icon Paul Scholes lambasted Antony and Alejandro Garnacho, branding the pair 'selfish' after the Red Devils were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, December 12.
Manchester United faced off against Group A leaders Bayern Munich in a do-or-die contest at Old Trafford on Tuesday. They knew they had to secure all three points, along with other results going their way, to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the UCL Round of 16.
However, Manchester United failed to generate any real attacking threat as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich. Kingsley Coman's 70th-minute goal was enough for the Bavarians to seal all three points.
Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial missed the game due to illness, which meant that Antony and Garnacho started for the third game in a row. But they lacked creativity and failed to get Rasmus Hojlund involved in the game - something Scholes wasn't happy with.
Scholes told TNT Sport (via METRO):
"The big worry for me is the centre forward. We can’t create a chance for him. I know he has scored five goals in the Champions League but he hasn’t got any in the league, he hasn’t got a chance tonight and I don’t think he had a chance on Saturday [against Bournemouth]."
He added:
"It is a big concern, where the goals are coming from. You expect creativity from your wide players, Antony and Garnacho but they are quite selfish players. They aren’t players who are looking up, they are players thinking about scoring their own goals, scoring themselves."
Garnacho struggled to get anything going on the left wing for Manchester United. The Argentine lost nine duels, was dispossessed five times, and failed to land any of his two crosses. He also created zero chances and had zero shots on goal.
Similarly, Antony failed to register a single cross attempt and didn't create any chances. He also lost nine duels, with his one shot during the game failing to land on target.
Who was named the Player of the Match for the Manchester United vs Bayern Munich UCL clash?
Manchester United failed to rise to the occasion as they were knocked out of the Champions League, finishing bottom of their group after losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
Kingsley Coman was named the Player of the Match by UEFA after scoring the only goal of the contest. He spoke to the media, saying (via The Athletic):
"It was a very good ending (to the group stage) and a very good performance. (I don’t score) very often, but I kept my cool and I’m happy it went in. We’re very happy to be in the next stage. We know the type of teams that await us there. We know we’ve gone very far in previous seasons. We want to do well again."
Coman was given a rating of 8.4 on FotMob. During his 77 minutes on the pitch, he had a pass accuracy of 88%, created one big chance, and scored a good goal. The 27-year-old also made six recoveries and won nine duels.