By Kehinde Okeowo
Manchester United came from two goals down to beat Italian Seria club, Atalanta 3-2 at Old Trafford.
The away side started the brighter of the two sides and went ahead 15 minutes into the game when Mario Pasalic scored from a pass from Davide Zappacosta.
They doubled their goal tally, on the 29th minute when Teun koopmeiners swings in a corner from the right, which was headed in by Merih Demiral.
Manchester United got a lifeline in the 53rd minute of the second half when Bruno Fernandes’s defense-splitting pass found Marcos Rashford, who scored after beating the Atalanta keeper.
The English side smelling blood, pushed for an equalizer and got it when Bruno Fernandes once again provided an assist for United captain, Harry Maguire who scored with his right foot to make it 2-2.
Manchester United was not done, as they put Atalanta under all sorts of pressure, the visitors eventually caved in when Christiano Ronaldo headed in the third goal from a cross from Luke Shaw to give United a 3-2 lead.
Atalanta made a late push for an equalizer but United was resolute, the game eventually ended 3-2 in Manchester United’s favor.
Units boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who felt they didn’t do badly had this to say: “The fans are a big part of this club. The singing section there kept the players going with their belief. That is what you do at Manchester United on a Champions League night. This corner of the stadium here are the best in the world. There is a bit of time when you are down as a supporter but you keep going.
“I thought we played well first half too. Two chances, two goals. It had to stop if we are to survive. We have a habit of doing this at this club. I thought we played well and they scored a goal out of nothing and then another set-piece. But they never stopped believing and kept going.
“Don’t disrespect the players. They play for Manchester United and they know they are the luckiest men in the world. Tonight they are the luckiest men in the world because they get to play for Manchester United. That is what so many millions of boys and girls want to do.
“He had chances in the first half but Marcus kept on going. He got a knock but he is going to be very important for us. It was instinctive finish from Harry. I don’t think you would have expected him to score that one. And Cristiano is great in front of goal. If anyone wants to criticise him for effort and work-rate just watch this game. Watch how he runs around.
“At half-time, I said make sure we get the next goal, because then we win the game. As long as we don’t concede I was pretty sure we would win the game. It was just about taking chances.”
Meanwhile another English Premiership club, Chelsea scored 4 unreplied goals against Swedish side Malmo in a game played at Stamford Bridge in London.
Chelsea’s goals came from Italian midfielder Joghinho who scored a brace, Kai Havertz, and Andreas Christensen scored a goal each.
Elsewhere, Barcelona beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 in Camp Nou, Bayern trashed Benfica 4-0, while Spanish side Villarreal defeated United’s conqueror Young boys 4-1.
Italian giant Juventus won 1-0 away to Russian side Zenith St. Petersburg, FC Salzburg won Wolfsburg 3-1, and Lille and Sevilla played a draw.
