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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Daniel Murphy

Manchester United World Cup trio's nightmare day as Christian Eriksen devastated and Raphael Varane struggles

Manchester United's Christian Eriksen has been left devastated after his Denmark were knocked out of the World Cup.

Many had tipped the Danes as dark horses to go far in the tournament after their strong showing at Euro 2020 and with Eriksen pulling the strings in midfield. However, the playmaker has been unable to replicate his brilliant United form in Qatar.

Denmark were held to a goalless draw by Tunisia in their opening match which set the tone of their tournament before losing narrowly to France. That set up a winner-takes-all match with Australia - who had lost to France but defeated Tunisia - for a place in the knock-out stages.

Also read: United staff optimistic about Amad's future

The Socceroos emerged victorious from the tense match after Matthew Leckie scored a stunning solo goal to clinch a 1-0 win which sees them pull off the unlikely shock of qualifying from the group stages for only the second time in their history.

The Aussies will now face the country that finishes top in Group C in the last 16, which could be any of Argentina, Poland or Saudi Arabia.

In the other final match in Group D, a much-changed France side fell to a shock 1-0 defeat to Tunisia, which briefly had the African side in second spot. Raphael Varane played 63 minutes of the match but made several mistakes including allowing Wahbi Khazri to stroll past him to score the winner – after which he was hauled off by his manager.

Hannibal Mejbri was an unused substitute in the game.

France and Australia have now joined England, the United States, the Netherlands and Senegal in the knockout stages of the tournament. Both nations will be keeping a keen eye on Wednesday evening's fixtures which will determine whether they face Argentina, Poland, Mexico or Saudi Arabia in the last 16.

Should the Three Lions and France both get past their last 16 opponents then Varane will come up against his United teammates Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford in the quarter-finals.

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