Atalanta were 2-0 up at Old Trafford, but the injury crisis in defence got worse, as Manchester United completed a heart-breaking comeback to win 3-2 with Cristiano Ronaldo’s header.
Champions League liveblog: Man Utd vs. Atalanta and Zenit vs. Juventus
There were surprises from both coaches going into Old Trafford, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer dropped Paul Pogba, starting Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes with Fred in midfield. La Dea were group leaders going in, but missing Robin Gosens, Hans Hateboer, Matteo Pessina, Berat Djimsiti and Rafael Toloi, so Marten de Roon had to plug the gap in defence, with Josip Ilicic and Luis Muriel preferred to Duvan Zapata and Ruslan Malinovskyi.
Atalanta were playing more like the hosts in the early stages, while United focused on the long ball and counter-attacks. It paid off, as Davide Zappacosta rolled across from the right and Mario Pasalic managed to stay just behind the ball, so avoided the offside trap to tap in.
Juan Musso was alert to fingertip Fred’s strike over the bar after a Cristiano Ronaldo cross was flicked on to the back post.
However, Atalanta were more clinical and doubled their lead when Merih Demiral soared for a relatively free header on Teun Koopmeiner’s in-swinging corner.
Demiral also proved crucial at the other end with a sensational last-ditch tackle on Marcus Rashford, then Fred did manage to get into a great scoring position only to fire wide.
Rashford thought he had to score when clear on goal on the stroke of half-time, but clipped the top of the crossbar from a tight angle.
Demiral went off with a hamstring issue, so Matteo Lovato had to make his Champions League debut, leaving only one first choice defender in the side.
Ronaldo sprung the offside trap on a Bruno Fernandes through ball, but Musso made himself big to parry and Rashford turned the rebound wide.
Manchester United did get one back when Ilicic’s lazy pass was intercepted by Fernandes, who immediately with the outside of the boot sent Rashford clear for the angled drive into the far bottom corner.
Lovato brought down Ronaldo just outside the box, from which CR7 drilled the free kick wide, then Scott McTominay deflected Mason Greenwood’s low cross with his knee onto the upright from point-blank range.
The momentum was suddenly all with Manchester United, Musso at full stretch getting his fingertips to Ronaldo’s finish from close range, as it went through Lovato’s legs.
David De Gea needed a fantastic double save on substitute Duvan Zapata and the Ruslan Malinovskyi rocket of a follow-up. On the resulting corner, Jose Luis Palomino also had a shot deflected over.
The comeback was completed, as a corner was not cleared effectively, then Remo Freuler failed to cut out the Fernandes cross and it fell so kindly for Harry Maguire to sweep in at the back post.
Bruno Fernandes almost made it 3-2, forcing a great save from Musso after Lovato’s slip, but the goalkeeper could do little when Luke Shaw whipped in a cross from another corner for Cristiano Ronaldo’s towering header.
CRISTIANOOOOO RONALDOOOO!!
He always has to have his say, and he’s come up with another big goal for Man Utd in the Champions League!
From 0-2 down to 3-2 up! pic.twitter.com/hF5p1R3d4D
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 20, 2021
Manchester United 3-2 Atalanta
Pasalic 15 (A), Demiral 29 (A), Rashford 53 (M), Maguire 75 (M), Cristiano Ronaldo 81 (M)
