For Manchester United to overcome FC Copenhagen in the Champions League, they needed to rely on two unlikely heroes: defender Harry Maguire and goalkeeper André Onana.
The 1-0 victory marked United’s first triumph in the competition this year, and it occurred on a night the team honored the late Sir Bobby Charlton, a renowned former captain.
Charlton, 86, departed from this life on Saturday. Before Tuesday’s game, Old Trafford observed a moment of silence, and manager Erik ten Hag was among those who assisted in laying a wreath in honor of one of the team’s all-time greatest players.
United had a challenging first half from the outset as Diogo Gonçalves struck the post and Mohamed Elyounoussi’s subsequent shot was deflected wide in the first five minutes of play.
Before United began to assault the Copenhagen goal in the second half, Onana made a good save on a shot from Lukas Lerager. Then, after Christian Eriksen was stopped by Kamil Grabara’s diving save, Rasmus Hjlund drove into the box.
Alejandro Garnacho, a substitute, also had a great opportunity to give the home team the lead during a counterattack, but a bad touch allowed Grabara to securely collect the ball.
However, a few minutes later, United seized the lead thanks to a header from Eriksen’s superb cross into Grabara’s net by Maguire, a player whose play has frequently been criticized by supporters.
For United and Maguire, who lost his captaincy during the summer and seemed to have lost favor with ten Hag, it would turn out to be a pivotal goal.
Scott McTominay and Garnacho both missed opportunities to seal the win in the first half of the match, and United nearly lost because McTominay’s high boot towards Elyounoussi resulted in a penalty kick for Copenhagen.
In stoppage time, Jordan Larsson went up to take the penalty kick and force a draw, but Onana made an incredible save to keep the visitors at bay, swatting the shot away with a powerful right arm.
Since joining United this season, the Cameroonian international has committed multiple mistakes, one of which occurred during a Champions League loss to Bayern Munich last month. The save on the penalty kick somewhat made up for those errors, and Onana was promptly surrounded by his teammates for his valiant efforts.
“We needed to win, so it was a close call, but I’m very happy,” Ten Hag said to reporters following the game.
“We exerted great effort to achieve that victory. Despite having a subpar first half, they managed to score the goal and then give up a soft penalty. Therefore, it was crucial since we were required to win today.”
When asked how he handled the penalty save, Onana responded, “I was just doing my job, staying calm, not feeling pressure and making myself big, waited as long as possible, and making the save.”
Along with his compliments, he declared that Maguire had been the hero of the game and expressed his happiness at his goal. Although he gave another excellent performance, we must keep going in this direction and we will undoubtedly get stronger.
Maguire scored the game-winning goal, and he received even more praise from him, stating, “He was the hero tonight so I am very happy for him.” He gave another excellent performance, but if we keep up this way, we will undoubtedly get stronger.
With the significant victory, United moves up to third place in its Champions League group, one point behind Bayern and six behind Galatasaray, which overcame the Turkish team 3-1 in the other Group A match on Tuesday.
When United beats rival Manchester City at home on Sunday, you’d assume the club’s rocky start to the season would be well on its way to recovery.