(Atletico Madrid-Manchester United 1-1) Coach Ralph Rangnick didn’t have much to say about what his side had done before the break, but 19-year-old Anthony Ilanga came and saved the situation.
– I think it was the first touch too! I dreamed of a moment like this, Anthony Ilanga tells BT Sports.
Suddenly, Bruno Fernandes was in the middle and rushed towards the Atlético Madrid defense.
Substitute Anthony Ilanga, who put star goalkeeper Jan Oblak on the wrong leg and rolled the ball into the corner played the exact opposite of the tide of the match.
Most of all, they are coincidences. Eric Thorsvedt thought they were lucky today at TV 2 studio after the game.
National team manager Staly Solbakken (53) was not impressed by what Rangnick’s team showed before the break.
Manchester United looks a bit chaotic and poorly prepared. In that sense, it sounded like the olds against the youngsters, Solbakken said in the same studio at the break.
– I think they were physically destroyed. BT studio Paul Scholes said they weren’t ready to face Atlético.
Atlético Madrid completely dominated in the first half – and with the exception of some failed flows and long shots by Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United were nowhere near scoring.
It was a very bad first half and a very bad start. We were very worried about the ball and took very little risk. So, we were below 0-1, and we could have quickly switched to 0-2, says Ralph Rangnick after the match.
-Things can only get better, for the first round we played… I still can’t believe it, Rangnick tells BT, and says he told the team during the break that what they did wasn’t good enough.
The German stood with a very heavy crew.
– United players seem naive in their entry. I don’t know what Rangnick said, but at least he didn’t get to his players. They also have a very offensive team. Solbakken thinks Sancho and Rashford are like boys to me.
Instead, it was João Felix who snuck in for free and nodded at the perfect post from Renan Lodi, across the post and behind the unchanging David de Gea.
Just before the break, Sim Vrsaljko had the opportunity to double the lead, but the ball passed through Victor Lindelof and into a corner kick.
The Swede started a bit abruptly at right-back, but was replaced in a three-way change an hour later, when Rangnick opted to replace him and left-back Luke Shaw with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Alex Telles. In addition, Nemanja Matic replaced Paul Pogba.
– He’s been tough with team selection and changes, Solbakken says of Rangnick.
However, the most significant change came a quarter of an hour before full time – and Swede Ilanga spent just five minutes of his Champions League debut to equalize with United.
– We didn’t play well in the first half, but then we made some changes and got tough, says Ilanga.
Ilanga was born in Malmö. His father, Joseph Ilanga, was a player for the Cameroon national team. Anthony Elanga You can choose between Sweden, Cameroon and England.
He has so far opted to represent Sweden in age-limited national teams, but has yet to make his senior national team debut. With 19 years and 302 days, he is the youngest Swedish goalscorer ever in the Champions League.
Manchester United rose in the second half, but at the end of the match Antoine Griezmann hit the crossbar.
However, the away team has escaped the horror and has a very good starting point before settling back at Old Trafford in three weeks’ time.
“Infuriatingly humble internet trailblazer. Twitter buff. Beer nerd. Bacon scholar. Coffee practitioner.”
