It had been difficult to locate any pre-match optimism around Manchester United. The club has sunk so low, so quickly in the early weeks of the season that it was almost as if their supporters would accept a defeat without humiliation on their Champions League return.
It was what they got. There were flickers from United in the opening quarter of the tie and the tonic of a first goal from the summer signing, Rasmus Højlund, to make it 2-1 at the beginning of the second-half. There were also a couple of late goals by Casemiro, which appeared to come out of nothing.
