Manchester United were defeated 4-3 by FC Copenhagen on Wednesday night in what was a box office match of football.
With a little less than three minutes on the clock, Man United launched a fiery counter-attack, with Scott McTominay slotting the ball through to Rasmus Hojlund who thumped the ball into the back of the net.
Although the home side tried to apply pressure after the restart, United comfortably retrieved possession and continued to dictate the flow of play in the minutes that followed.
10 minutes in, Alejandro Garnacho showed his flair as he dribbled around a Copenhagen defender to cut into the box.
Unfortunately, his pass to the edge of the box breezed past his teammates, bringing an end to a lucrative opportunity to extend United’s lead.
Less than five minutes later, Jonny Evans halted his run and dropped to the ground as he appeared to incur a muscular strain.
Unable to continue the match, he was replaced by Raphael Varane.
While the match was delayed for a time due to a medical emergency in the crowd, the break did little to distract United from the task at hand.
Almost immediately after the restart, Fernandes launched a rapid counter-attack, laying off the ball to Garnacho whose shot was saved by Copenhagen keeper Kamil Grabara.
There to collect the rebound was Hojlund, who scored his and United’s second goal of the match.
Moments later, the Dane showed his desire to secure his hat-trick, capitalising on a defensive error to hit a half-volley that was barely saved.
Off the ensuing corner kick, Harry Maguire connected well with the ball to send a well-struck header goalwards, however, his shot was saved as well.
32 minutes in, Aaron Wan-Bissaka appeared to be back at his best following his injury recovery, performing a sublime sliding tackle on Elias Achouri to extinguish a rare Copenhagen attack.
The right-back also continued to show strength on the attack, providing Rashford with support on the right wing and proving to be a constant nuisance to the Copenhagen defence.
Six minutes before the break, Hojlund broke through the defence and found himself up against just one defender and the keeper.
He attempted to sneak the ball past the keeper at the far post, missing by inches.
Moments later, the referee made his way to the touchline to review a potential red card off-camera.
While shielding the ball, Marcus Rashford was found to have stamped on the ankle of Elias Jelert, with the Copenhagen left-back’s ankle bending in an unnatural way.
A red card was brandished to Rashford, making life a little more complicated for an otherwise impressive United.
On the 44-minute mark, Copenhagen made the most of their man advantage, with Mohamed Elyounoussi scoring off a blistering counter-attack.
Still, with 13 minutes of added time, United would need to be at their best to protect their lead going into the break.
Two minutes into stoppage time, United showed no interest in remaining on the back foot as Bruno Fernandes’ pass narrowly missed the feet of Hojlund, who was perfectly positioned to secure his hat-trick.
While Elyounoussi was positioned to get on the end of an opportunistic cross and beat the offside trap, Andre Onana proved exactly how good he is with his feet outside the box, running upfield and clearing the ball out of danger.
Six minutes into stoppage time, poor luck struck again for United, with Harry Maguire’s arm brushing up against the ball to hand Copenhagen a penalty.
Diogo Gonçalves sent Onana diving the wrong way, putting Copenhagen level with United as the home crowd erupted.
Once the half-time whistle sounded, United would have no doubt been frustrated with the way the match unfolded following their impressive start to the match.
Erik ten Hag would clearly need to make some significant strategic adjustments at the break in order to cope with the one-man deficit.
Sofyan Amrabat came on for Christian Eriksen at the start of the second half to inject some extra energy into United’s midfield.
During the opening stages of the second half, United looked relatively unfazed by being a man down, controlling possession and dominating the midfield with a slow build-up play.
Six minutes in, Copenhagen looked to make the most of the little possession they had when Denis Vavro fired a long-range effort on goal which Onana was able to comfortably save.
Moments later, the Cameroonian shot-stopper was called into action yet again to save a glancing header.
United continued to exhibit strong passing in the midfield as well as some promising counter-attacks, however, delivering the final product one-man down proved challenging for the visitors.
In the 60th minute, Copenhagen unleashed another shot from outside the box which Onana coolly caught yet again.
Maguire sprinted back and threw himself in front of an Elyounoussi cross inside the box, saving his team from a dangerous attack.
Ultimately, the referee blew the whistle for offside.
In the 68th minute, the referee made his way to the touchline yet again to perform another VAR review.
This time, it was found that Copenhagen’s Lukas Lerager had handled the ball in the box, meaning that this time the penalty would be awarded to United.
Fernandes sauntered confidently up to the penalty spot and blasted the ball into the top left corner, putting United back into the lead.
On the 80-minute mark, Fernandes delayed taking a corner as angered Copenhagen fans threw objects onto the pitch.
While United did well to continue holding off the Copenhagen attack, they were unable to maintain their lead until the end as Leraged caught Dalot napping and hammered a volley into the back of the net to level the scoreline.
Four minutes from time, 17 year old substitute Roony Bardghji got on the end of a header to hit a left-footed half-volley past Onana to hand Copenhagen the lead for the first time in the match.
Just after five minutes of added time were shown on the board, United’s players circled the referee to draw his attention to a potential handball inside the box.
Upon review, the referee determined that the player’s arm was not stretched out far enough for a spot kick to be given.
Maguire then hit a thunderous shot past the keeper, only for the crossbar to deny him from scoring the equaliser. A foul had been given in any case.
In the dying seconds, Fernandes unleashed a shot from distance that was scooped up by the home team’s keeper.
Unfortunately, it was not to be for United, with a series of questionable referee calls and the struggles of playing with 10-men for most of the match leaving them unable to walk away with anything from this seven-goal thriller.
This loss sunk United to the bottom of Champions League Group A, putting more pressure on Ten Hag as he continues to struggle to turn his team’s season around.
Starting XI: Onana, Maguire, Fernandes, Rashford, Hojlund, Eriksen, Garnacho, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, Evans, McTominay
Subs: Varane, Amrabat, Mount