Erik ten Hag intends to take the Europa League games seriously, and this is what the Red Devils’ lineup looked like against Twente. The Dutch manager decided on a strong eleven, making three changes compared to the clash with Crystal Palace. Harry Maguire, Manuel Ugarte and Marcus Rashford had a chance from the first minutes.
Twente’s players started the match at Old Trafford better. The visitors played ambitiously and in the 8th minute they had a great opportunity to open the score. Diogo Dalot made a mistake in the corner of the pitch, Bart van Rooij recovered the ball and played it to Sam Lammers, who added his foot, but shot just past the far post of Andre Onana’s goal.
Manchester United seriously threatened Twente’s goal only in the 26th minute. Bruno Fernandes made a nice pass into the penalty area, Lisandro Martinez headed the ball to the sixth meter, and then Mees Hilgers made an unfortunate intervention. The football was heading towards Twente’s goal, but Lars Unnerstall made an instinctive intervention.
Twente played ambitiously, but high pressure from the first minute made the guests lose their strength and Manchester United started to assert themselves more often. In the 35th minute, the Red Devils took the lead. Bruno Fernandes passed into the penalty area to Diogo Dalot, who did not control the ball, but it fortunately went to Christian Eriksen. The Dane hit a long corner from thirteen meters and gave the Twente goalkeeper no chance!
Before the break, the Red Devils carried out one more intelligent attack. In the 40th minute, Noussair Mazraoui scored a strong shot. However, Unnerstall remained vigilant between the posts.
Manchester United was aware that the second goal could decide the fate of the opening match in the Europa League. Erika ten Haga’s players were close to the second goal in the 53rd minute. Harry Maguire had his chance after a corner kick. The ball fell at the Englishman’s feet on the seventh meter, the defender made a situational shot, but the Twente goalkeeper remained vigilant in the goal.
In the 59th minute, the guests could have scored the equalizer. Twente had a free kick after a foul by Lisandro Martinez. Sem Steijn took a dangerous shot from over twenty meters, the ball flew just past the post, and Onana made a good save.
Manchester United played slowly and were reprimanded for it in the 68th minute. Bart van Rooij made an impressive charge from under his own goal. After a while, Christian Eriksen made an error in his own half and lost the ball to Sam Lammers. He got into the United sixteen, hit the short corner hard and surprised Andre Onana. We had a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
After conceding the goal, Twente launched further attacks on Manchester United’s goal. The Red Devils made a great move in the 76th minute. Joshua Zirkzee fired a sharp shot at Unnerstall’s goal, but the Twente goalkeeper survived the duel unscathed. A few minutes later, Bruno Fernandes was close to luck. The Portuguese shot from fifteen meters and made a really minor mistake.
The Red Devils were looking for a goal at the end that would give them the opening victory, but unfortunately they didn’t find it…
Manchester United – FC Twente 1:1 (1:0)
Goals: Christian Eriksen 35’ – Sam Lammers 68’
Manchester United: Onana – Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot – Ugarte, Eriksen (Mainoo 79′) – Diallo (Garnacho 67′), Fernandes, Rashford (Mount 79′) – Zirkzee (Hojlund 79′)
Twente: Unnerstall – Salah-Eddine, Bruns, Hilgers, Van Rooij – Vlap (Klojo 60′), Regeer (Lagerbielke 83′) – Steijn (Rots 60′) – Van Bergen (Ltaief 74′), Lammers (Besselink 83′), Van Wolfshop
