Ronaldos United stunned by Swiss side Bayern thump Barca in Champions League

By Peter HallUpdated September 15, 2021 â€" 8.55amfirst published at 5.46am

Bern: Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said poor discipline cost his side in their 2-1 Champions League defeat to Young Boys on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), but insisted there was plenty of time left to turn things around.

Elsewhere, Thomas Mueller scored a goal and Robert Lewandowski added two more to help Bayern Munich deal Barcelona their first loss of the post-Lionel Messi era in a 3-0 victory at Camp Nou while Romelu Lukaku’s 69th-minute strike got Chelsea the three points in London against Zenit St Petersburg.

United had taken an early lead through Cristiano Ronaldo and appeared on course to get this season’s Champions League campaign off to a winning start, but Young Boys turned things around in dramatic style in the second half.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s 35th-minute sending off proved costly, with no side going on to win Europe’s top competition previously after losing their opening match in the competition’s history.

“Of course, discipline is a huge part of tournament football,” Solskjaer said. “If this was a knockout game and we got knocked out of the competition because we went down to 10 men, everyone would be kicking ourselves.

“We’re fortunate it is the first game of the group and have loads of time to bounce back from it.

A dejected Cristiano Ronaldo following Young Boys’ late Champions League winner in Bern.Credit:AP

“We know we’ve given ourselves a more difficult task. We’ve lost the opportunity to get three points but we’ve got two home games next and got to focus on those two.”

The winning goal in the 95th minute came about after a defensive mistake from substitute Jesse Lingard, who woefully underhit a back pass.

Solskjaer, however, refused to blame the winger for the defeat.

“With Jesse, no footballer likes making mistakes but it’s obviously part and parcel of the game,” Solskjaer added.

Ronaldo earlier had United in cruise control with his 13th-minute strike.Credit:Getty

“We’re humans, every footballer makes mistakes, we’ll learn from it, he’ll learn from it. He’ll pick himself up and be ready to go on Sunday (against West Ham).”

Young Boys coach David Wagner was delighted with his side’s famous victory.

“We showed what we can do, we deserved it,” Wagner said.

“It is an incredible night for this club. You can see what it means to the fans, after they have been kept away for so long.”

UEFA Champions League matchday 1 results

Sevilla 1 RB Salzburg 1

Young Boys 2 Manchester United 1

Lille 0 Wolfsburg 0

Villarreal 2 Atalanta 2

Chelsea 1 Zenit St Petersburg 0

Malmo 0 Juventus 3

Barcelona 0 Bayern 3

Dynamo Kviv 0 Benfica 0

Thursday (AEST) fixtures:

2.45am: Besiktas v Borussia Dortmund, Sheriff v Shakhtar Donetsk.

5am: Inter Milan v Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid v Porto, Club Brugge v PSG, Liverpool v AC Milan, Manchester City v RB Leipzig, Sporting Lisbon v Ajax

Ronaldo’s former club Juventus, meanwhile, claimed the first win of their new era by beating Malmo 3-0 after a flurry of first-half goals.

Alex Sandro’s 23rd-minute opener was followed by goals within 60 seconds by Paulo Dybala â€" from the penalty spot â€" and Alvaro Morata on the stroke of half-time in the south of Sweden.

Back in Barcelona, the scoreline was not quite as damning for the Catalans the 8-2 drubbing Bayern gave them in the quarter-finals two seasons ago but the performance was just as hopeless as they were routinely dispossessed and struggled to cope with the visitors’ intensity.

“I can’t complain about the team’s attitude but there’s a big difference in quality between the two teams,” said Barca coach Ronald Koeman.

Mercurial striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice for Bayern in Barcelona.Credit:Getty

“They’re a team that has been playing together for a long time and they were even stronger when they brought players off the bench. We have a lot of young players who will get better in the next two or three years.

“It’s very difficult to accept but I hope things improve once we get players back from injury.”

While Barca despaired at their inferiority, Bayern revelled in another dominant performance against the five-time champions, whom they also hammered 3-0 at the Camp Nou in the 2013 semi-finals.

“It’s a lot of fun playing here, the boys enjoyed it,” Mueller said.

“When you win 3-0 here, it’s a really important signal. We’re really pleased. We gave very little away at the back and going forward, we could have scored one or two more.”

Reuters

Watch Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo and football’s biggest superstars in the UEFA Champions League with every match streaming ad-free, live and on-demand only on Stan Sport from this Wednesday 15 September. Start your seven-day free trial here.

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