Champions League: Manchester United script another comeback vs Atalanta

Manchester
United avoided another Champions League humiliation on Wednesday when they came
from behind to beat Atalanta 3-2 at Old Trafford after initially going 2-0 down
at half-time.

Atalanta went
into the lead when a quick free-kick found Davide Zappacosta down the right-hand side and his low cross put to bed by Mario Pasalić. Though United tried to
put on some pressure, the score was soon doubled, when Merih Demiral out-jumped
Harry Maguire from a corner to head the ball past David de Gea.

United
pulled a goal back at the start of the second half through Marcus Rashford,
when Bruno Fernandes played him in behind the Atalanta defence with a through
ball, and Rashford finished it off in style. The hosts kept up the pressure
and with 15 minutes remaining they got their reward when a cross evaded
everyone and found Maguire to lash home at the back post.

The third goal came when a Luke Shaw cross found Cristiano Ronaldo in the box and the United number seven headed it home to give under pressure Ole Gunnar Solksjaer a reason to smile.

The win means Manchester United have six points from three games in the Champions League and after the initial setback of a defeat against Young Boys on the opening night, the Red Devils have brought their campaign back on track with two back-to-back wins. United moved into first place in Group F, two points above Villarreal and Atalanta.

Ronaldo has now scored six goals in eight games since returning for a second spell at United and he was playing his 300th game for the club.

The win relieves some of the pressure on the United manager, whose team had won only two of its last seven games in all competitions. Solskjaer vowed to make changes to the team to restore some balance and he was true to his word, dropping Paul Pogba and pairing Scott McTominay and Fred in central midfield.

Initially, it didn’t work, with Atalanta still managing to pick off United in the first half.

The momentum of the game swung at halftime, with Atalanta looking less assured at the back after Demiral was forced off at the break because of injury.