Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes believes that the team’s 3-2 home defeat to Galatasaray last month is the result that could come back to haunt them as they face a difficult task to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.
Manchester United lost their third match in four Champions League group stage matches on Wednesday night, losing 4-3 to FC Copenhagen at Parken Stadium.
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However, Scholes believes it was the home defeat to Galatasaray that has left his old club’s chances of qualifying for the knockout stages hanging in the balance.
The Reds lost 3-2 against Galatasaray at Old Trafford.
“It is going to be very difficult to qualify from this group,” Scholes told TNT Sports. “But like I said before, you can go to these places (like Copenhagen) and get beat – that is not the biggest shock in the world.
“It is those home games in the Champions League group, as Owen [Hargreaves] mentioned before, that you have to win. Get your nine points, scrape a draw [away from home] and 10 points gets you through.
“They have now got to go to Galatasaray and win, which they probably had to do anyway, so nothing much has changed. But we know Galatasaray have more quality than what Copenhagen do.”
“You can always go to these grounds and get beat. The biggest mistake they have made is getting beaten at home by Galatasaray. That’s killed them.”
Manchester United led twice in the Copenhagen match, taking a 2-0 lead and then a 3-2 lead, but they collapsed in the final 10 minutes, conceding two goals to lose the match.
Substitute Roony Bardghji scored a winning goal in the 87th minute to complete a dramatic turnaround for FC Copenhagen, just four minutes after the Danish side had equalized for the second time in the match.
The result leaves Manchester United bottom of Group A with just two matches remaining.
Despite their current position, Manchester United can still qualify for the knockout stages but they will almost certainly need to win both of their remaining matches.
United face Galatasaray in Turkey next and then welcome Bayern Munich to Old Trafford in December.
