RB Leipzig 3-2 Manchester United | 5 Hits and Flops as the Red Devils crash out of the UEFA Champions League
A defensive disasterclass by Manchester United in their most important fixture of the season so far has seen them crash out of the UEFA Champions League in the group stages after losing 3-2 to RB Leipzig.
Needing just a draw to make it to the Round of 16, Manchester United relinquished their slight advantage by conceding as early as the second minute of the game. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer curiously chose to go with a 3-5-2 formation and his defence was in disarray throughout the first half where they were lucky to have conceded just two.
It was all Angelino for RB Leipzig in the first half as he scored the first and set Haidara up for their second. Just when it looked like Manchester United might claw their way back into the game, Harry Maguire and David de Gea switched off inside their box allowing Justin Kluivert to slot the ball home for their third goal of the game and put the game to bed.
Bruno Fernandes converted from the spot in the 79th minute to give Manchester United what looked like a consolation goal after Greenwood was brought down inside the box by Konate. They were then handed some hope a couple of minutes later as Paul Pogba subsequently nodded home but it ended up being a scramble of sorts and the ball went in after taking a touch of Maguire.
There are talking points aplenty starting with how the morale in the Manchester United dressing room must have been low following Mino Raiola's controversial statement regarding Paul Pogba's future. It was clear that the team were reeling from it as they looked so out of their element in the opening half an hour.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the hits and flops from the game.
#5 Hit- Kevin Kampl (RB Leipzig)
Kevin Kampl was given a job to do and that was to disrupt the Manchester United midfield by all means and that's exactly what he did. He was always popping up to cover for a teammate or fight for a second ball.
Kampl also disrupted the flow of the game many times and in fact, came close to being booked twice. But it's all part of the game and he did an excellent job keeping the dangerous Bruno Fernandes in check.
To curb Manchester United, you need to keep Bruno Fernandes out of play and Kevin Kampl was the man who did it for RB Leipzig tonight.
#4 Flop - Alex Telles (Manchester United)
We're not even sure whether Alex Telles is to be blamed alone for the mishaps in the first half as he was consistently found out of position. Telles was either tucked in too deep allowing too much space for Haidara and Forsberg or he was floating too far ahead.
He has proved yet again that he is absolutely hopeless when it comes to defending aerial balls as he let the ball fly past him into Haidara for RB Leipzig's first goal. Telles did not offer much going forward either and looked undone by the tempo of the game and lost the ball on far too many occasions.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer brought Telles off at the beginning of the second half and you couldn't fault him for that. It was a poor display from the Brazilian.