Como 4-1 Manchester United: Red Devils humiliated in Italy
· Yahoo Sports
Michael Carrick’s injury-plagued side continued to fall short after a 4-1 thrashing in the Champions League by Cesc Fàbregas’ Como.
Nico Paz opened the scoring within a few minutes, which proved to be the only goal of the first half. Anastasios Douvikas added a second early in the second half before Paz inflicted further damage, scoring Como’s third within an hour.
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Jacobo Ramón added insult to injury for Michael Carrick’s side as he made it 4-0 with 15 minutes to go. Joshua Zirkzee scored a consolation goal in added time as Como ran out comfortable winners.
As it happened
Nico Paz kicked things off early for Como with an immaculate finish in the third minute. Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt were caught too deep in the Como box, allowing the Argentine ample time to take a perfectly placed shot and put the home side ahead.
Manchester United could hardly string a pass together for much of the first half, with the absence of a number of defensive players and midfielders painfully noticeable. Como pressed high consistently, and United lacked the physicality to fight back with any kind of impact.
Michael Carrick made half-time substitutions, taking off Andrey Santos and Matheus Cunha for Carlos Baleba and Amad Diallo, but his efforts proved futile as a perfectly executed one-touch sequence from the halfway line allowed Nico Paz to play in Anastasios Douvikas to flick the ball into the net for Como’s second.
The night would only continue to worsen for Carrick and his men, already shrouded in recent controversy, as Nico Paz made a tidy run and slotted a shot round Senne Lammens with ease to score his second goal of the night and put his side 3-0 up.
A dejected Bruno Fernandes was substituted for Joshua Zirkzee after 67 minutes with little complaint. Less than 10 minutes later, Kaiki took advantage of United’s weak defence, as a slow Maguire and an out-of-practice de Ligt left Jacobo Ramón unmarked following a fast counter-attack to give Como a four-goal cushion.
Zirkzee did manage to have a small impact from the bench, scoring a consolation goal for his side in the 91st minute from a high cross by Amad, but the consolation goal did little to soften the blow. The win and high scoreline leave Como in sixth, above Manchester City on goal difference, with one more goal scored. Manchester United sit in 20th, with one win and two losses from three games.