Manchester United got burned once more on their return to 'Hell' as Galatasaray ended their 100% record in Champions League Group H.
Burak Yilmaz's second-half goal was enough to give the Turkish side a deserved victory and take them to the brink of qualification for the knockout stage.
United's position in the last 16 was already confirmed so the damage, beyond any sustained as a result of the ear-splitting din, cannot be compared to the tumult that unfolded on United's first meeting with Galatasaray in Istanbul 19 years ago.
Indeed, for untested youngsters such as Nick Powell it may prove to be a very valuable part of their footballing education.
At 18 years and 242 days, Powell was becoming the second youngest Englishman to feature for United in the Champions League.
That Kieran Richardson holds the record proves that just being here is no guarantee of a successful career at the very highest level.
The experience can have done Powell no harm whatsoever though.
It would be almost impossible for the Galatasaray fans to live up to their 'Welcome to Hell' billing completely. They do make a heck of a noise though.
And the contrast between the Turk Telecom Arena and the Globe Arena in Morecambe is pretty marked, that is for sure.
That is where Powell was playing, in front of 2,169 hardy souls exactly a year and a day ago, which underlines exactly how far the midfielder has come.
It was little wonder that Powell took a bit of time to get used to the surroundings. Not even three substitute appearances for United, and a goal on his debut against Wigan, could have prepared him for this.
So a couple of wrong decisions were made and a couple of final passes went astray before Powell got into the swing of things.
But when Tom Cleverley drifted a corner to the far post in the latter stages of the opening period, Powell rose confidently to power a header against the crossbar.
Moments later, an intelligent run into the box almost got him on the end of Javier Hernandez's curling cross. It was as close as United came in the first half.
Defensively they were solid though, with Phil Jones impressing on his first appearance of the season.
With only 16 United appearances in 2012, the remarkable introduction to life at Old Trafford that had seen him compared to Duncan Edwards by those club insiders not usually given to hyperbole, has largely been halted.
However, there was something impressive in the way Jones cantered back alongside Nordin Amrabat as the Galatasaray winger threatened to break through.
Indeed, Anders Lindegaard had only one notable save to make, turning away a curling effort from Hamit Altintop. But that all changed after the interval.
Former Liverpool man Albert Riera tested the Dane's reflexes with a long-range effort before Lindegaard did superbly to tip Felipe Melo's firm header over the bar.
The visitors were caught napping at the corner though, with Yilmaz finding enough room on the edge of the six-yard box to steer his header into the net.
It was a sorry goal to concede for Sir Alex Ferguson's team, not least because it meant they had not properly dealt with the threat of a player responsible for Galatasaray's entire Champions League haul of five up to that point.
In addition, it extended the unhappy statistic of conceding the first goal in 12 out of 17 Premier League and Champions League games.
It could have been worse too as Altintop rattled Lindegaard's crossbar with a ferocious long-range effort.
Ferguson tried to revive his troops with the late introductions of Ashley Young, Federico Macheda and Joshua King, but it was all to no avail.
No comments:
Post a Comment