This past week we saw two of the giants of the European game lose on match day three of the Champions League, both in group H. Manchester United lost 2-1 to Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir, while Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) lost 2-1 to RB Leipzig. Both of these games will be looked at as upsets, but Manchester United’s loss stands out as a major failure. Manchester United is a massive club with a massive payroll and should not be taking losses like this.
Istanbul scored early on a Demba Ba breakaway, as the United defense fell asleep and Ba slipped behind the defensive line and made United pay. Edin Visca would double the lead in minute 43. Anthony Martial would bring United back within one before the closeout of the first half. A scoreless second half would cause Istanbul to pick up their first ever Champions League group stage win in club history.
As for the other Group H game, we would see a rematch of the Champions League semi-finals from last year. PSG bested the Germans in that meeting, but RB Leipzig would get their revenge in this one. PSG quickly opened the scoring in minute six of the game as Angel Di Maria beat goalie Gulasci with a clinical finish. Christopher Nkunku would level it just before halftime with a low shot in the bottom left corner. Leipzig would then take the lead in the first 15 minutes of the second half with an Emil Forsberg penalty kick. PSG would end up receiving two red cards after going down. This caused them to lose Idrissa Gueye in minute 69 and Presnel Kimpembe in minute 95.
With these two results, the standings currently sit with last year’s runners up PSG being eliminated. Meanwhile, Manchester United would top the group and RB Leipzig would join them in advancing to the next round. Luckily for PSG, they have three games left to dig themselves out of the hole they have dug. Manchester United really lost a great opportunity to take a stranglehold of Group H, and they would have been undefeated and six points clear of elimination. With their loss, the group is theoretically wide open, despite not many giving Istanbul a chance to get out of the group, but a win versus Manchester United is a confidence booster that could potentially lead them to a deep run.
As for other notable match day three results, Real Madrid took down Inter Milan 3-2 in a tight thriller, Rodrygo would break the 2-2 deadlock in the 80th minute and give Real Madrid the win. Right now Real Madrid and Inter Milan are in elimination spots, but both squads have three games to climb up the standings. Borussia Monchengladbach lead Group B, with Shakhtar Donetsk in second.
Another notable result was a tie between Lazio and Russian Zenit. For Zenit receiving a draw versus a top team in Italy is a solid result for them. They scored first with an Aleksandr Yerokin goal in minute 32. Zenit was in a position to win until Felipe Caicedo scored in minute 80 to give Lazio a crucial point in the Group F standings, which currently has them in second place, 1 point ahead of Club Brugge.
Match day four will take place on Nov. 24 and 25, where each team will have the same opponent as their match day three . So PSG, Manchester United and Inter Milan will all have shots to avenge their match day three losses.
