Manchester United only had to avoid defeat against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night to book their place in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League. Instead, they lost 3-1 in a performance that can be best described as self-inflicted. Handed a tricky draw in Group H, a group many tipped to be the toughest of the lot, qualifying for the round of 16 was always going to be a steep, uphill battle, but why not throw on some of the heaviest hiking boots and a bag of bricks to make things more difficult? That is the United way…
Click through the gallery above to see some of Fred's shaky moments during the match.
Italian midfielder Marco Verratti returned for the French giants after missing the first clash between these two teams this season through injury. PSG, unsurprisingly, enjoyed a lot of the ball early on, and went ahead as early as the sixth minute through Neymar, who linked up well with Kylian Mbappe in the build-up to his goal. The ball fell to him perhaps fortuitously in the box, but he did well to beat David de Gea from a relatively tight angle.
The Red Devils looked threatening in spells, but a narrative was forming and that was that Fred was playing recklessly; untidy on the ball and silly in the tackle. Very early on, a heavy touch from the Brazilian forced him to make a needless challenge. He leaves the ground, launching himself at the feet of Verratti in an unforced error that would become the theme of the night. Fred had taken three touches before his fourth turned into tackle. He had time, space and options, but his lack of composure in that moment meant he failed to pick the right one. He went unpunished, although he was now on the referee's radar.
Moments later, he brings down Mbappe. The ref did not deem the contact enough for a foul, but replays suggested the Frenchman was probably within his rights to go down. Then, in the 21st minute, PSG midfielder Leandro Paredes hits the floor after what appeared to be a headbutt from Fred in an incident off the ball. As the referee tried to control the players and the situation, and as he ran over to the pitch-side monitor to watch the scuffle unfold in slow-motion, commentators Martin Tyler and Andy Townsend spoke as if Fred was a goner.
Everybody, including United players and staff, believed the Brazilian was going to receive a red card. Instead, the match official only showed him a yellow, a decision that shocked everybody on the pitch, let alone those at home. I do believe the referee got it right as it was more of a head shove than a headbutt. Paredes was trying to get Fred sent off and the official recognised that, but while the Argentine's reaction was silly and unsportsmanlike, Fred was lucky to stay on the field. His behaviour was immature and selfish, and that was where Solskjaer needed to step in.
The Norwegian, in that moment, needed to acknowledge that Fred had escaped fate. He needed to start planning his substitution right then and there as almost every United player walked over to the former Shakhtar Donetsk player to tell him to calm down, to tell him to keep his cool, to regroup. The outcome was shaping up to be more predictable, more obvious than the ending of every romantic comedy ever. But Solskjaer ignored the signs, almost as if he had not been watching the game. As the teams walked down the tunnel at half-time, it felt certain that if Fred was to walk back out, it was going to be with his big winter jacket on and to take his place on the bench. That did not happen, but the inevitable did.
Fred, in the 70th minute, was finally sent off after yet another heavy touch of his turned into a tackle. The 27-year-old launched himself at his former colleague Ander Herrera, winning the ball, but giving the referee a chance to take the pressure off himself following his controversial decision in the first half. Instead of PSG players and Tuchel ranting about dropped points due to a red card that never happened being the headline, it simply didn't matter as much as Fred's eventual sending-off allowed them the chance secure all three points. He enabled the referee. Last season's finalists might've gone ahead through Marquinhos just a minute earlier, but Fred's red card made the Red Devils' job of getting back into the game impossible. For me, though, Solskjaer needs to take full responsibility for ignoring the obvious signs that the tightrope his ball-winning, tough-tackling midfielder was walking on was going to break, like the hearts of those United supporters watching. In this sense, he enabled Fred, who cannot make those tackles if he is not on the field.
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It felt like a bad horror movie. You, the viewer, can see the drama that is about to unfold coming from around the corner, but the actor still walks wilfully into the danger. You did not need to die! I still believe United will make it through the group next week as they need just a point from their clash with Leipzig to advance, but it should have been so much easier…
