Raphinha scores hat-trick in 100th appearance for Barca
Brazilian winger Raphinha celebrated his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona with a hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
Manchester United’s 100 per cent record in the UEFA Champions League came to an end on Wednesday as the Red Devils went down 1-0 to FC Basel and United manager Jose Mourinho felt his side paid the price for missing a number of gilt-edged chances in the first-half.
“The first half was a perfect half without the goals. It was difficult to repeat in the second half, we knew the opponent would try a different reaction,” Mourinho said at the post-match press conference.
Advertisement
Don’t miss: Champions League: FC Basel stun wasteful Manchester United
Romelu Lukaku had a one-on-one saved early on by Basel keeper Tomas Vaclik before Marouane Fellaini would miss a trio of headed chances and the sides went into the interval deadlocked.
Advertisement
Mourinho brought on the likes of Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the second-half but much to the chagrin of the United tactician, Basel snuck in a late winner courtesy of Michael Lang.
“We lost because in the first half we should be 5-0 up but we could not score one goal after being so dominant. It looked for many periods in the first half that it was impossible not to win. I think the majority of the second half the feeling of everyone was okay, it will be 0-0, but they got the late goal,” Mourinho added.
United are still in pole position to top their group and need only avoid a defeat in their final game, a home tie with CSKA Moscow on December 5, to secure top spot.
“I cannot complain or blame the players. I think we play a match like this 10 times and nine times we win comfortably but the one was now. I lost here with Chelsea also in the last minute, we had one shot on target and played really bad, but that wasn’t the case today. I think we were really, really good in the first half,” the 54-year-old Portuguese was quoted as saying by BT Sport.
The Red Devils now turn their attentions to the Premier League, where they trail arch-rivals Manchester City by eight points. United will be looking to bounce back from their mid-week loss by securing a routine home win against promoted side Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.
Advertisement
