PSV EINDHOVEN 2, MANCHESTER UNITED 1
Manchester United lost their opening Champions League group game against PSV Eindhoven 2-1 after leading 1-0 through an opening goal by Memphis Depay but they had already suffered a demoralising blow when Luke Shaw suffered a double leg break after just 15 minutes.
PSV defender Hector Moreno slid into Shaw as he made a run into the box but trapped the Reds defender with a scissors kick which left him in urgent need to treatment.
The stoppage to treat the stricken United defender lasted ten agonising minutes and some players were visibly shocked at they had witnessed.
Shaw himself needed oxygen and was reportedly crying at the injury in the dressing room but tweeted his appreciation for the concern from Southampton, after his former club tweeted their best wishes:
@SouthamptonFC thank you , you don't know how much you as a club mean to me , thank you so much I really appreciate it
— Luke Shaw (@LukeShaw23) September 15, 2015
He also issued a tweet to football fans and players alike who had tweeted their own best wishes on a swift recovery: “Thank you everyone for your messages, words can’t describe how gutted I am, my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger.”
Thank you everyone for your messages , words can't describe how gutted I am , my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger.
— Luke Shaw (@LukeShaw23) September 15, 2015
And United confirmed the double leg break along with an operation for Shaw with many pundits expecting the England defender to miss the rest of the season and perhaps even the Euro 2016 finals in France.
Louis van Gaal told the official Manchester United website:
“He has a double leg fracture. He is in the hospital and shall be transferred tomorrow with us, maybe, or perhaps a day later.
Our thoughts go out to @LukeShaw23, who has suffered a double fracture of the leg. He will have an operation on his return to Manchester.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 15, 2015
“He shall be operated in Manchester. It’s awful. He’s an 18-year-old boy who comes to Manchester and his first season is very difficult.
“Then he has a fantastic second season and this happens. When he came into the dressing room he had an oxygen mask and was crying.”
Asked about the nature of Shaw’s fracture, Van Gaal added: “I’m not a doctor so I cannot say, but when you have a double fracture it is four to six months.
“But you can never say that in advance. He won’t play in the group stage, I don’t think. I hope he will play again this season.”
United had made two changes from the side that beat Liverpool last Saturday. Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini were replaced by Ashley Young and teen sensation Anthony Martial as the Reds looked to be much more positive against the Dutch.
The positive changes were not reflected in the final scoreline, however, as Van Gaal bemoaned United’s lack of killer instinct when in the ascendancy.
He said: “When you are you 1-0 up, if you score the second goal it is over. That is what has happened tonight.
“We can only blame ourselves because we have created so many chances. After Tottenham Hotspur, I said we have to score one more than the opponent.
“Today we could have scored much more but it is always like that. You have to be effective and PSV were very effective because they scored out of nothing.
“A deviated ball from a corner kick and another finish after a passing error in the first phase. They scored and that is professional, it is very good.”
Sure enough United dominated possession against PSV with Martial and Memphis particularly impressive but didn’t take the lead until just before the break.
Memphis had been arguably United’s best player on the night and, against his old club from whom United signed him in the summer, scored the opening goal after 40 minutes after receiving an incisive pass from his Dutch team mate Daley Blind.
The pacy wingman went past two players and slotted the opener past PSV’s ‘keeper Jeroen Zoet.
Memphis should have extended the lead a couple of minutes later but he fired wide from a tight angle while United’s captain Chris Smalling also tested Zoet.
The miss proved costly for United as it was almost a supreme irony that Moreno, who wasn’t punished with either a red card or a penalty for his earlier damaging tackle on Shaw, went on to level the scores during the lengthy injury time before half time.
Maxime Lestienne’s corner was met by Moreno whose header came off Blind and past David De Gea to even things up.
Lestienne’s cross beat Marcos Rojo, who had had replaced Shaw in the first half, and Luciano Narsingh’s header got the better of De Gea to give PSV the lead after 57 minutes – a lead that United couldn’t overhaul.