BERN − Cristiano Ronaldo has wasted no time in showing how valuable he will be to Manchester United but this morning’s shock Champions League defeat at the hands of Young Boys in Bern was a reminder that the Old Trafford side have not been a major player at this level for a long time.
Ronaldo got his third goal in two matches since returning to United as the visitors took an early lead at the Wankdorf Stadium, but Aaron Wan-Bissaka's sending-off shortly before the interval was what swung the Group F opener.
Young Boys, the Swiss champions whose most notable performance in the European Cup remains their run to the semi-finals back in 1959, made the most of their extra man as Cameroon's Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu got a 66th-minute equaliser.
USA forward, Jordan Siebatcheu, then won it deep in injury time after latching onto Jesse Lingard's misjudged back-pass.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team are now already on the back foot, with Young Boys − theoretically the weakest side in a section − which also features Atalanta and Villarreal, who beat United in last season's Europa League final.
"You need 10, maybe 12 points. You need to win your home games and maybe one away. We have lost an opportunity to get three points, but we have two home games next," Ole said.
Last season, United won their first two matches in a difficult group against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig, but still ended up finishing third.
Indeed, it has been a decade since the Old Trafford club were a genuine force in the Champions League, something they are desperate to put right this season.
Since losing to Barcelona in the 2011 final, United have won two knockout ties in the competition, one against Olympiakos and an infamous victory against PSG in the early days of Ole's reign.
A club that remains the fourth richest in the world − according to Deloitte's most recent Football Money League − continues to live on past glories that won them three European Cups.
There has been no Premier League title since 2013, but signing Cristiano is supposed to get them back to the top and the Portuguese veteran returned to Old Trafford in the belief that United are a better bet than Juventus if he is to win a sixth Champions League medal. – AFP, September 15, 2021
