For Manchester United, the Champions League group stage loss they suffered tonight to Paris Saint-Germain will have many lasting effects. Their goal scorer, Marcus Rashford, got injured again in the second half, but fortunately it doesn’t sound too severe.
In falling 3-1 at home to PSG, we now see a three way tie atop the group between the two sides that clashed tonight at Old Trafford and RB Leipzig. United could have advanced to the knockout round with just a draw or better tonight, but now they need a result in the final game of group stage play.
A draw or better at Leipzig will get them through. As for Rashford, this is what manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had to say about his striker and MBE:
“It’s a niggling shoulder injury. Let’s see how quickly he can recover. Hopefully he will be ready for the West Ham game but we don’t know.”
As disastrous as this result was, not all is lost. It was actually 1-1 until the 69th minute and then it jsut quickly went downhill in a hurry. Early in the second half, United had a chance to take a lead, on a couple occasions, but Edinson Cavani and Anthony Martial just couldn’t be clinical enough to finish their chances.
Had they taken a lead midway through the second half, it might have changed the complexion of the game entirely.
However, United can’t lick their wounds for too long. They travel to West Ham United on Saturday, so they will need to respond in a hurry.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.