Marc Skinner expressed his pride in his players after Manchester United drew 1-1 with Paris St Germain the first leg of their Champions League qualifying tie on a historic night at Leigh Sports Village.
Making their European debut, United found themselves under considerable pressure from their opponents in the first half before two-time Champions League finalists PSG took the lead nine minutes into the second via Tabitha Chawinga’s finish.
The hosts then responded impressively with substitutes to the fore and equalised via a 70th-minute header from one of them, on-loan Lyon forward Melvine Malard, who had also scored after coming on in last Friday’s 2-2 Women’s Super League draw with Arsenal at the same venue.
Boss Skinner said: “It was literally the cliche game of two halves in my opinion.
“I think the reality is the first half, that’s the fastest we have played against, the highest intensity. Even Arsenal, it was much more intense than that.
“I think it just took our players to see it, feel it, and then at half-time they fixed it. I’m so proud of the resilience first half, because they stayed in the game, some really good defending, and then second half I felt we had them on the ropes and we could have taken the game.
“It did feel like we could have won the game. In the end it felt probably fair as a draw.”
The second leg is in Paris next Wednesday as the sides vie for a place in the group stage.
Asked how confident he was about that match, Skinner said: “I believe we can do it anywhere, so I’m going to believe we can do it in Paris.
“I said to girls tonight we belong at this level, I have no doubt about that.
“We’re a club that is historic in the men’s Champions League, and we haven’t had time to do that in the women’s yet, so we have to earn it now. But we have great shoulders to stand on from our men’s team, and that’s what we have to take into the second leg, that belief that we’re Manchester United and we can beat anybody.
“We’re going to go to Paris and believe we can win because if you don’t, there’s no point jumping on the plane.
“I feel if we match their physicality, we’re the better footballing team. I want to see us go there and don’t play with fear.”
Skinner also once again questioned the competition’s format, as he had done in the build-up to the match.
Skinner said: “If this isn’t as good as a quarter-final is in the actual tournament, I don’t know what you’re going to get.
“I’m seeing teams that are going to play tomorrow, no disrespect, that we would beat, and they’re playing to get in the Champions League proper, and that for me is strange.
“For me, it needs to be looked at. PSG have been in two finals, and yet we’re playing them in a qualifying game.
“The teams are ready to expand. We have four or five in this country that could play in the Champions League. I think it’s ready to expand.”
The United-PSG contest is one of five ties in the ‘league path’ of the second qualifying round, which also features two-time winners and last season’s runners-up Wolfsburg.
There are also seven ‘champions path’ ties involving sides who won their leagues in 2022-23.
WSL champions Chelsea are among the automatic qualifiers for the group stage, which features 16 teams across four pools. Arsenal were eliminated in the first qualifying round.
Granada 0-4 Real Madrid: Diaz stars in crushing victory for LaLiga champions
Newly-crowned LaLiga champions Real Madrid earned an emphatic 4-0 win over relegated Granada on Saturday, breaking a single-season club record after making it 29 LaLiga games unbeaten.
Carlo Ancelotti's side continued their superb form following their Champions League semi-final win over Bayern Munich, reaching 90 points in the league and moving 15 clear of second-placed Girona.
Fran Garcia broke the deadlock with an easy finish after a long series of passes in the 38th minute before he set up Arda Guler to slot home and extend the advantage just before half-time.
Brahim Diaz made it 3-0 in the 49th minute with a shot into the near post, and the former Manchester City attacker scored his second nine minutes later off a Luka Modric pass from the right.
A much-changed Madrid were in control throughout as Los Blancos moved to 29 league matches undefeated, surpassing their best unbeaten run in a single campaign under John Toshack in 1989-90.
Granada, meanwhile, were already relegated after Mallorca's 1-0 win at Las Palmas as their LaLiga stay came to an abrupt end on Saturday.
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea: Reds made to wait for safety after late collapse
Nottingham Forest must wait to make mathematically certain of their Premier League status after conceding two late goals in a dramatic 3-2 home loss to Chelsea.
Forest began Saturday's thrilling game knowing a point from their final two matches would be enough to secure safety after Luton Town's 3-1 loss at West Ham and Burnley's 2-1 defeat to Tottenham.
After Willy Boly cancelled out Mykhailo Mudryk's strike inside the opening 16 minutes, Callum Hudson-Odoi thought he had won the game with a delightful 74th-minute curler against his former side.
However, Chelsea silenced the City Ground through quickfire goals from Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson in the final 10 minutes.
Chelsea's third win in a row keeps them seventh and level on points with Newcastle United in sixth, while Forest are three points better off than Luton with a game to go, but they are 12 goals better off in terms of goal difference.
Mudryk controlled Cole Palmer's defence-splitting pass and finished across Matz Sels to give Chelsea the lead, but Boly levelled for Forest with a free header from Morgan Gibbs-White's free-kick delivery – the ball taking a touch off Conor Gallagher on its way in.
Jackson had a chance to restore Chelsea's lead before the interval, but his effort was kept out by Sels when played through by Palmer.
Forest also created plenty of opportunities at 1-1 as Ryan Yates clipped the outside of the post and Gibbs-White did likewise from a close-range header, with the rebound dropping to Wood.
The Forest striker somehow blazed over in one of the misses of the season, which almost proved costly as Thiago Silva clipped the post at the other end soon after.
Hudson-Odoi was next to hit the frame of the goal, but it did not appear to matter when he cut inside Malo Gusto and curled the ball away from Petrovic.
Then came a late twist, though, as substitute Sterling scored a similar curler at the opposite end in the 80th minute, before fellow replacement Reece James – returning from a lengthy lay-off – crossed for Jackson to head home a dramatic winner.
Napoli 0-2 Bologna: Champions League-chasing Rossoblu down tame hosts
Napoli saw their winless run extend to five games after Bologna secured a 2-0 win with two quickfire goals at their lacklustre hosts in Serie A on Saturday.
Forward Dan Ndoye gave Bologna the lead in the ninth minute, heading home from point-blank range, before defender Stefan Posch nodded in to double the advantage three minutes later following a corner.
Napoli should have pulled one back soon after when they were awarded a penalty for Remo Freuler's foul on Victor Osimhen but Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia kept out Matteo Politano's low shot.
Bologna, at least temporarily, moved up to third on 67 points, leapfrogging Juventus – with 66 – who host relegated Salernitana on Sunday.
Napoli are eighth on 51 points as last season's Scudetto winners continue to struggle to match their heroics from the previous term.
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