Manchester clubs suffer in Europe

Defeats for both City and United

The Champions League returned this evening and the two clubs representing England came from Manchester as City took on Juventus at the Etihad Stadium and United took on PSV Eindhoven in Holland.

City qualified for the Champions League after finishing second in the Premier League last year, while United advanced to the group stages after beating Club Brugge comfortably in the qualifying round.

Manchester City 1-2 Juventus

The two sides have endured different starts in their respective leagues, with City winning all five without conceding a goal and Juve picking up just one point from their first three.

City have seen off tricky away games against Everton and Crystal Palace as well as beaten last year’s champions Chelsea at home, but as for Juve, they’ve struggled and are without a win in their first three.

However, it was last year’s Champions League finalists that got the three points this evening after coming from behind to dampen the mood in City’s camp.

A Giorgio Chiellini own-goal gave the hosts the lead in the second-half, but goals from Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata turned the game on it’s head.

Match Reaction

Manchester City’s Yaya Toure, speaking to BT Sport:  “I think the Italian team defended well and I think they were lucky today. We just have to be strong and try to bounce back in the next game. We missed a lot of chances today. We have to learn from it and try to do better.”

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini: “It’s disappointing, I don’t think we deserved to lose.

“We had better chances and played better than Juventus. It was a typical Champions League game, both teams didn’t create many chances but we had more possession. It was not a tactical problem, Juventus just scored two beautiful goals.”

PSV Eindhoven 2-1 Manchester United

It was a similar result for the Red side of Manchester as Louis van Gaal’s men conceded a lead to lose their first game back in the Champions League.

The night started horrifically for United as Luke Shaw suffered a horrendous injury, which is reported as a double fracture in his leg.

The mood was suddenly killed by the horrendous injury, but it was PSV old-boy Memphis Depay who sparked the game into life as he gave the visitors the lead.

However it didn’t last long as Hector Moreno equalised after his header was deflected into the net by Daley Blind.

The game was won just before the hour-mark as Luciano Narsingh headered home past David de Gea.

Match Reaction

Manchester United’s Chris Smalling: “I didn’t see it [the Luke Shaw injury] but a few of the players witnessed it, it was very sad and we are trying to find out how he is.

“We missed that cutting edge in the final third. In the first half they scored from their only chance and they punished us on the break. It’s a very disappointing night. We’ve got a lot to learn.”

Manchester United​ boss Louis van Gaal: “It is awful. The boy is in his second season and he has been playing fantastic. And now this happens.

“He had the oxygen mask on and was crying in the dressing room. You must judge for yourself. If I say it was a penalty and a red card then I am a bad loser.

“It was a very bad tackle.”

More from Louis van Gaal: “Luke Shaw is in hospital, he will be transferred with us, maybe, otherwise a day later and shall be operated in Manchester probably. It is awful.”

So it was a night to forget for the Premier League duo as they both suffered defeat and will hope to bounce back in the next game-week.

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt