- Agencies, Manchester |
- Updated: Sep 17, 2015 13:15 IST
PSV Eindhoven's players celebrate after Hector Moreno scored the team's first goal in the Uefa Champions League group stage encounter against Manchester United at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on September 15, 2015.(Reuters Photo)
It was a dreadful night in Manchester as perennial European under-achievers Manchester City lost 2-1 at home to last season’s finalists Juventus, while cross-city rivals Manchester United suffered a miserable return to the Champions League after a 12-month hiatus with a 2-1 defeat at PSV Eindhoven.
Memphis Depay gave United the lead against his former club with a sublime goal on 41 minutes. But Hector Moreno, who incurred plenty of criticism for a tough challenge on Shaw that caused the injury, equalised through a deflected header from a corner just before the break.
The equaliser was against the run of play, but PSV’s second had an element of smash-and-grab about it as Luciano Narsingh capitalised on a brilliant counterattack to head home a deep cross from Maxime Lestienne.
In Manchester, City took the lead at the Etihad Stadium in controversial fashion as Vincent Kompany pressured Giorgio Chiellini into scoring an own goal in the 57th minute. Juventus had been holding on at times but Mario Mandzukic touched home Paul Pogba’s cross to equalise in the 70th minute. And nine minutes from time, Alvaro Morata pounced on an error from Aleksandar Kolarov to snatch the winner.
United dominated in terms of possession, territory and chances but simply could not find another goal to turn their fortunes. "We can only blame ourselves because we have created so many chances," Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal said.
"You have to be effective and PSV were very effective because they scored out of nothing."
For City, the result was all the more surprising as they had won five from five league games so far while the Old Lady of Turin had drawn one and lost two of their three Serie A fixtures.
Both teams will be hoping to get some points on the board in their next Champions League group matches with City taking on Borussia Monchengladbach on September 30 and United taking on VfL Wolfsburg on 1 October.
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