Galatasaray stun Man United as RC Lens end Arsenal’s unbeaten run
4th October 2023
The Turkish giants beat United 3-2 as Arsenal lost 2-1.
- United have now lost their opening two games in Group A.
- Arsenal suffered their first defeat in all competitions following their 2-1 loss against Lens.
- Rasmus Hojlund twice put United in front, but they slipped to a sixth defeat in nine games as Wilfried Zaha, Kerem Akturkoglu and Mauro Icardi struck for the Turkish giants.
Manchester
United are in danger of making an early exit from the Champions League after
crashing to a 3-2 home defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday.
Rasmus Hojlund twice put United in front, but they slipped to a sixth defeat in nine games as Wilfried Zaha, Kerem Akturkoglu and Mauro Icardi struck for the Turkish giants, leaving United with defeat in their opening two games of a Champions League group for the first time.
New goalkeeper Andre Onana had another night to forget in Europe following his mistakes in the Group A opener against Bayern Munich that ended in a 3-2 defeat.
The Cameroonian was at fault for the move that saw Casemiro sent-off for conceding a penalty on the 77th minute as he made a poor pass while trying to build up from the back.
Icardi missed the spot-kick, but quickly made amends to score the winner against the remaining ten-man United.
United's 1-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday meant Erik ten Hag's men are also off to their worst ever start to a Premier League season with four defeats from seven games.
Progress to the last 16 of the Champions League now looks an uphill task as Bayern beat FC Copenhagen 2-1 away to move onto six points with Galatasaray four clear of United with four games to play.
Click this link to place your bet on the Borussia Dortmund vs AC Milan UCL match
Elsewhere, Arsenal suffered their first defeat in all competitions when French outfit RC Lens recorded a shock 2-1 win over the English Premier League giants.
Lens, who are appearing in Europe's elite club competition again for the first time in over 20 years, came from behind to win the pulsating Champions League clash thanks to a fine second-half strike by Elye Wahi.
Gabriel Jesus gave the Premier League side an ideal start when he opened the scoring in the 14th minute to silence a raucous Stade Bollaert.
But Adrien Thomasson soon brought last season's Ligue 1 runners-up back on level terms before the visitors saw Bukayo Saka limp off before half-time.
Wahi, the 20-year-old striker who became Lens' club-record signing when he joined at the start of the campaign, then fired home in the 69th minute as his side held on for a famous victory.
The result lifts them above Arsenal to the top of Champions League Group B on four points, one above Mikel Arteta's side.
This is after the other game in the group also played on Tuesday saw PSV Eindhoven and Sevilla draw 2-2 in the Netherlands.
UCL Matchday 2
Tuesday Results
Salzburg 0-2 Real Sociedad
Union Berlin 2-3 Braga
FC Copenhagen 1-2 Bayern Munich
Inter 1-0 Benfica
RC Lens 2-1 Arsenal
Man United 2-3 Galatasaray
Napoli 2-3 Real Madrid
PSV 2-2 Sevilla
© Agence France-Presse