Last night, in Manchester United’s Champions League group match against CSKA Moscow, the Red Devils dominated possession and completed well over double the amount of passes than that of their Russian adversaries.
Unfortunately the game ended in a one-all stalemate which given defensive midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin mixed emotions about his teams performance.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game Schneiderlin had this to say about the result:
“It’s a bit of mixed feelings.
“With the game we wanted to take the three points but in the Champions League it is a marathon, not just about one game.
“It is difficult because we wanted to come here to win, but the most important thing was to not leave here without any points.”
Manchester United went 1-0 down early on, conceding a penalty which was initially stopped, but big Ivorian striker Seydou Doumbia scored on the rebound.
“I think in the first half we had the better possession of the ball.
“We had good possession, but we could not create many chances. In the second half the movement was a little bit better, but maybe Moscow were a bit more tired.
“We kept the ball, and we made them move a lot which meant we had more chances in the second half. We could have played a bit more direct sometimes, but we know that we can improve because we need to create a bit more.”
The man who conceded the penalty to CSKA was teenage super striker Anthony Martial, who handled the ball in the box. But he made up for his error later on by scoring the equaliser with a brilliant diving header.
Schneiderlin had this to say about his compatriot’s performance:
“[Martial’s goal] changed the dynamic of the game.
“He didn’t let his head down because that [conceding a penalty] can happen to anyone. Anthony scored a great goal and after that we pushed on but we could not score the second goal which was a shame.”
Manchester United now look to the Manchester derby on Sunday, where Schneiderlin’s midfield presence will be crucial to United’s hopes of victory.
