Jose Mourinho’s red cards are usually considered acts of deflection, but Thursday night’s probably served that purpose for Erik ten Hag. A raucous game with a lot of sub-plots offered perhaps the most entertaining shows in Europe this season, if not all for good reasons or with any real pay-off.
That’s Manchester United on the pitch, and Mourinho off it. The Portuguese failed to get proper “revenge” on his old club, but then United have now failed to maximise a lead in every single Europa League game this season. This raucous 1-1 at Fenerbahce was the third draw in three, any positives again offset by obvious flaws. Youssef En-Nesyri, who ended Ten Hag’s first United European campaign when at Sevilla in 2022-23, here ended any sense of momentum after the win over Brentford.
