Related items

• Erik ten Hag vows to fight on ‘together’ with Manchester United

  Under-pressure Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is not worried about losing his job after his side’s horror start to the season continued with a Champions League home defeat to Galatasaray.

  The Red Devils threw away a 2-1 lead to fall to a 3-2 loss at a rain-soaked Old Trafford and suffer their worst start to a season since 1986.

  They have lost six of their opening 10 games for the first time in 37 years and their chances of getting out of the group stages already look in doubt after just two matches.

  But Ten Hag, who says there are “no excuses” for his side’s dismal performances, insist everyone at the club is pulling in the same direction.

  Asked whether he feared for his job, the Dutchman said: “Last season: brilliant, terrific, more than we could expect.

  “We also knew in this project there would be common gaps. At this moment we are in a very difficult period as everyone can see but we come out together, we are fighting together, we are sticking together and we are behind each other. That is me, the directors, the team, all together we will fight.

  “This is not us, we know we have to do better, with togetherness we will come out.

  “If I give an explanation, then you will see as excuses, there are no excuses. We can’t make the errors we are now making. We have to do better, it is a simple fact, we have to win our games.”

  United had victory in their own hands after two Rasmus Hojlund goals, either side of former United winger Wilfried Zaha’s leveller, put them on course for a much-needed win.

  But Kerem Akturkoglu again pegged them back and then a woeful error by Andre Onana set them on a path to self-destruction as his abysmal pass led to Casemiro fouling Dries Mertens in the penalty area and the Brazilian was sent off.

  Mauro Icardi missed the resulting penalty, but made amends three minutes later as he grabbed the winner and sealed a first ever victory on English soil for the Turkish side.

  Onana also made a costly gaffe in the Group A opener at Bayern Munich a fortnight ago but Ten Hag, who managed him at Ajax, has backed the Cameroonian to come good.

  “We are happy with our goalkeeping group, definitely with Andre,” Ten Hag said. “He was in one semi-final of the Champions League, last year he was in the final of the Champions League, he has the capablilties to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

  “He has shown that and he will do. We already have seen in games his great capabilites, also his personality after he made mistakes. He will bounce back and I am sure he will in the coming games as well.”

  Galatasaray were good value for their victory and are now a good bet to progress to the knockout stages, having taken four points from their opening two games.

  “In the second half I believe we played better, we had more chances,” coach Okan Buruk said. “At the end of the day we are happy, we won against this team, a very important team.

  “This victory is very important for Turkish football, for us and for our standing in the group.”

• Mikel Arteta defends selecting Bukayo Saka as winger limps off again in Lens

  Mikel Arteta defended his decision to play Bukayo Saka as the Arsenal winger limped out of their Champions League defeat to Lens.

  The Gunners had taken the lead through Gabriel Jesus but Adrien Thomasson levelled following a David Raya error before Saka hobbled out of the game.

  Lens would go on to win 2-1 courtesy of a second-half strike from Elye Wahi but it was the injury to Saka that will have concerned Arteta more.

  Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City visit the Emirates Stadium in five days and Saka’s involvement is now in doubt with the England forward having been forced off in the last three games.

  Asked if he regretted picking Saka following his issues against both Tottenham and Bournemouth, Arteta replied: “No. It was a knock that he had the other day and he was perfectly fine. It was a back-heel, an action that can produce that kind of injury.

  “Let’s see what the extent of it is and afterwards it’s too late. The last few were more knocks than anything else.

  “He hasn’t really missed games. We gave him a break against Brentford (in the Carabao Cup) last week and that was all.

  “He tried to backheel a ball in the first half and felt something muscular. He felt uncomfortable to carry on so we had to take him off.

  “We don’t know anything more. It was big enough not to allow him to continue to play the game and that’s a worry for us.

  “He was really looking forward to playing like every player. It was a big Champions League night. I painted a picture and the type of scenario we were going to face today and they all knew about it.

  “But this Champions League is so difficult to win away from home. Today we take a big lesson.”

  The defeat ended a forgettable 24 hours for Arsenal after bad weather grounded Arteta and his players at Luton airport for five hours on Monday as their journey to France was delayed.

  Now their hopes of avoiding a bumpy ride in qualifying for the knockout stages have also suffered a setback after a turbulent night at a rocking Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

  “No, let’s not put excuses,” Arteta said when asked if the preparations for the game had impacted on a poor team performance.

  “First of all, congratulations to Lens. They are a really good side. Really well coached. We knew it was going to be a really tough match.

  “In the boxes we had four or five chances we didn’t put away and we didn’t defend the boxes well enough.

  “It’s true there were moments in the second half we struggled to be more threatening in the final third and find spaces.

  “They defended with those numbers really good. That’s something to take for the next game.”

  Lens had started the season slowly but won their two Ligue 1 games leading into a first Champions League home game in 21 years and defender Kevin Danso was delighted with the outcome.

  “We gave it our all today in front of our own fans,” he said.

  “It was a difficult game, Arsenal had a lot of quality and made us sit back really deep, but we kept defending and kept our concentration. Luckily we won the game.

  “At home we know how strong we are, in front of our fans. That’s what we always try to do: win at home. I’m a bit gutted about the clean sheet, but we’ll take the three points definitely.”

• Bayern Munich complete comeback victory at Copenhagen

  Bayern Munich came from behind to secure a 2-1 win over Copenhagen in the Champions League at Parken Stadium.

  A shock was on the cards in Denmark when Lukas Lerager opened the scoring for Copenhagen 10 minutes after the break, but Munich were on level terms through Jamal Musiala’s clever strike from outside the area.

  The decisive moment of the game came with 83 minutes on the clock when Mathys Tel lashed home from inside the box to break Copenhagen hearts and deny them a point.

  The hosts had the first chance of the game through Mohamed Elyounoussi, but his effort from inside the area was well saved by Sven Ulreich.

  Munich enjoyed the lion’s share of possession through the early stages before Elyounoussi had another chance for the home side – this time his header went straight into the gloves of Bayern goalkeeper.

  Bayern came close to an opener themselves on the half-hour mark, but Joshua Kimmich’s drilled shot from outside the area flew marginally over the crossbar.

  It took 45 minutes for the the visitors to register their first shot on target when Leroy Sane found space outside the area, but his whipped left-footed strike was comfortably held by Kamil Grabara.

  The visitors went in search of the first goal early in the second half when Kimmich decided to have another go from range, but he was denied by Grabara again.

  Much to the surprise of many, the home side opened the scoring in the 55th minute. Viktor Claesson jinked past two defenders before his initial goalbound effort was blocked, only for the ball to fall to Lerager who flashed home from inside the area.

  Bayern instantly tried to shift the momentum to avoid defeat and almost got their equaliser eight minutes later, but Konrad Laimer’s header went marginally wide of a post.

  Two minutes later, Thomas Tuchel’s side levelled in superb fashion through Musiala’s 67th-minute strike. The forward shifted the ball from left to right before he let fly from just outside the area and into the bottom right corner.

  Munich pushed for a winner but Sane’s effort from a tight angle did not test Grabara in the home goal. Copenhagen did not want to settle for the solitary point either and could have regained their advantage, but Elyounoussi’s shot flew just wide of the target.

  With seven minutes left on the clock, Bayern turned the game on its head after some fantastic work from Thomas Muller. He opened up the space for Tel, who blasted high into the net from 10 yards to make it two wins from their opening two Champions League games in Group A.