FIVE ASIDES Champions League, first leg: Atletico Madrid 1, United 1
United were saved, and not by David de Gea for once. Their saviour at one end was the bar, rattled three times by Atletico; their saviour at the other was Anthony Elanga. If in doubt, send on a teenager. Since Ralf Rangnick arrived, Elanga has been the teacher’s pet as well as a fan favourite, and you can see why. He’s at that stage of a sporting career when you don’t have to be told to keep it simple because it already is. He’s glad to get on the pitch, happy to do what the boss wants, born to run and run. When a chance comes along, he stays calm and composed. His shot was a bit scuffed, but it was good enough to beat the once-great Jan Oblak, and Elanga had distinguished himself earlier by half-doing the splits to shake off the last defender and turn Bruno Fernandes’ pass into a through ball. Before even taking a touch, Elanga had shown his alertness and agility and lived up to his chant. His impact makes you wonder why Ralf Rangnick hasn’t recalled James Garner from Forest, if his contract allows. With Scott McTominay unwell, Garner would have made a better pivot than Fred, now firmly established as more of a box-to-boxer. The Champions League, paradoxically, is a good place to nurture young talent: the pressure may be greater than the Premier League, but the pace is slower.
Two steps forward, one step back. After a 2-0 and a 4-2, United regressed to 1-1, their fourth such score in six games. Their performance went further backwards, evoking the shambles at Watford. For over an hour United were rubbish – all possession and no penetration. They only turned up when Rangnick got round to sending on Nemanja Matic, who saw the need to observe the basics. Rangnick’s Champions League record with United is now a cup of weak tea, served lukewarm (played 2, drawn 2, scored 2, conceded 2). If they scrape through the second leg, he may have to send an SOS to Michael Carrick (played 1, won 1, scored 2, conceded 0).
Cristiano Ronaldo was facing his favourite opponents in his favourite tournament, but you would never have known it. He was a peripheral figure, striking stroppy poses, wagging his finger, communicating more with his Instagram account than with his team-mates. Atletico had a Portuguese striker too, Joao Felix, who put his stamp on the tie in the seventh minute. ‘Fly Atleti,’ said a banner, and Felix did, with a stunning header that turned de Gea into a statue. Ronaldo, for 80 minutes, was not flying but flopping. Then came the crisp team move that started with Harry Maguire’s big head, as Fernandes likes to say. Maguire met an Atletico throw-in with a big firm header to Fred, who played a small cushioned header to Alex Telles on the left touchline. His volley was headed in turn by Ronaldo, back to Fred, who slipped Fernandes into space in the middle of the park. It was Ronaldo’s moment of the match: he had gone from being a spectator to a cog in the supply chain, as he was against Leeds. But when he got his one big chance – a free kick late on, just outside the box – he blasted it into Row Z. Right now, Ronaldo owes his place to Edison Cavani’s groin strain.
United’s starting XI didn’t manage a single shot on target. Oblak was troubled only twice, once by Elanga’s equaliser, and then even later on by Jesse Lingard. Mind you, Atletico’s whole XIII, including Antoine Griezmann, were even worse on this score – their sole attempt on target was the one that went in. It was as if neither side wanted to win. If anyone from Europe’s great powers bothered to watch the game, it surely left them praying to draw one of these two in the quarters. United, on this evidence, would have done better not to qualify for the knock-outs. They looked, sad to say, like a Europa League team.
Once again a substitution paid off. Either Rangnick has suddenly developed a Midas touch with his subs or he’s picking the wrong team in the first place. After the West Ham game (won by Marcus Rashford) and Leeds (won by Fred and Elanga), this was the third match in seven where the starters had to be bailed out by the spare parts. It is not all Rangnick’s fault: Rashford, still out of sorts, is more effective as a sub at the moment, and so is Elanga, who can shine more brightly against tired defenders. But Rangnick did get a couple of things wrong. Putting Victor Lindelof at right-back was pointlessly eccentric: he couldn’t get forward as he had at Leeds, and United missed Diogo Dalot’s energy (even Aaron Wan-Bissaka was an improvement). In Spain, where United are often hopeless, and without McTominay, who knits the side together, United needed more bodies in midfield. This became clear early on, yet Rangnick did nothing. ‘The plan was in the dustbin,’ he said afterwards, with his usual directness. So where was plan B?