Scott McTominay says the whole team have to take responsibility for Manchester United’s bleak Champions League predicament after Andre Onana’s mistakes and a lack of killer instinct cost them at Galatasaray.
Having lost three of their opening four Group A matches, Erik ten Hag’s side managed to throwaway a two-goal second-half lead in Istanbul as a pulsating, helter-skelter clash ended 3-3.
Wednesday’s result leaves United bottom of the pool with only the home clash with already qualified Bayern Munich to come in a fortnight’s time.
Copenhagen’s draw in Germany later that day keeps the Red Devils’ faint chances of progressing alive, but they must win their final game and hope Copenhagen draw with Galatasaray.
“We have to wait and see,” McTominay told the PA news agency. “It’s not in our hands.
“We’ve put ourselves in that position and we have to own it and that’s football.
“We kept our cool really well, I felt like throughout large portions of the game.
“Obviously towards the end it gets a little bit like a basketball game where everyone’s up and down and some tired legs and stuff like that.
“We need to rest, recover and there’s is a big game coming up on Saturday, which we will be ready for as well.”
United have little time to recover from their draining night in Turkey as attention turns to Saturday evening’s Premier League trip to Newcastle.
All eyes are sure to be on goalkeeper Onana in the North East after the summer signing endured another chastening Champions League night for the Red Devils.
Guilty of gaffes away to Bayern and in the reverse fixture against Galatasaray, the Cameroon international was somehow beaten by two Hakim Ziyech free-kicks on Wednesday.
The second was particularly shocking and proved the catalyst to the hosts’ comeback but McTominay refused to blame him and acknowledged that outfield players should have put the game to bed.
“We’re so disappointed not to come away with more goals than three, to be honest,” said the midfielder, who had put United 3-1 up in the 55th minute.
“If you had said that to us before the evening started (we would score three) we would have been delighted with that, hopefully get another clean sheet.
“But football’s football. There’s mistakes and different things that can happen in the game and it’s partly our fault at the other end of the pitch for not killing the game as well.
“We had control and we were playing some good stuff.
“That’s football. It can happen and there’s no individuals in this team. We all want to be a collective and push each other forwards together.
“But, yeah, there’s another game on Saturday which we’re looking forward to and we’ll learn from this one for sure.”
McTominay added that “whatever happens at both ends of the pitch we need to stick together” as United look to shake off their challenging Champions League disappointment.
Newcastle have also been in midweek action away to Paris St Germain and St James’ Park is set to provide another hostile environment for Ten Hag’s team.
“There’s no intimidation in football,” McTominay added. “You’ve just got to go there and take it on its head on and go for it.
“That’s the way that this team wants to operate – we want to go and fight every challenge head on and that’s it.
“There’s no ducking and diving out of situations. We want to go and push ourselves and test ourselves against some really good teams as well.”
Marco Reus to leave Dortmund after 12-year-spell with boyhood club
Marco Reus will leave Borussia Dortmund when his contract expires at the end of the season, the club have announced.
Reus, a Dortmund native, first joined the club in 1995 and spent 10 years in their youth ranks before joining Rot Weiss Ahlen, who he left for Borussia Monchengladbach in 2009.
After three impressive seasons with Gladbach, Reus returned to Dortmund in a €17million deal in 2012 and has made 424 appearances for the club across all competitions.
That puts him fourth in BVB's all-time charts behind Michael Zorc (561), Mats Hummels (504) and Roman Weidenfeller (445), while his 168 goals in black and yellow have only been bettered by Alfred Preissler, who scored 177 in two spells between 1945 and 1959, before the Bundesliga was founded.
Reus, who has won the DFB-Pokal on two occasions with Dortmund and helped them reach the Champions League final in his first season upon returning in 2012-13, was also club captain between 2018 and 2023.
As news of his impending departure was made public, he said his full focus is on ensuring his final game with the club is June's Champions League final at Wembley Stadium.
"I'm incredibly grateful for and proud of this special time at my club Borussia Dortmund," the 34-year-old said.
"I have spent more than half of my life at this club and enjoyed every day, even though there have of course been difficult moments too.
"I already know now that I will find it difficult to say goodbye at the end of the season, and yet I'm happy that there is now clarity and that we can focus fully on the very important final games that we still have to play.
"We have a big objective in our sights that we all want to achieve together. To do so, we will need every single one of our unbelievable fans, to whom I would like to express my sincere thanks for their unbelievable support over the years."
Reus came on as a late substitute as Dortmund beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the first leg of their semi-final tie on Wednesday, with Niclas Fullkrug scoring the only goal of the game.
Neville: Chelsea sacking Pochettino 'would be madness'
Gary Neville says it "would be madness" for Chelsea to sack head coach Mauricio Pochettino as he is ideally suited to managing the club.
Pochettino admitted after Chelsea's 2-0 win over his former side Tottenham on Thursday that he is unsure of his future at Stamford Bridge.
The Argentinian has been under intense pressure at times this season, most recently on the back of the 5-0 loss to Arsenal last week.
Chelsea have since responded with a battling 2-2 draw at Aston Villa and the impressive win over Spurs, but doubts remain over Pochettino's future.
However, Neville insists it would be wrong of Chelsea to part company with the former Paris Saint-Germain boss at the end of the season.
"There was talk of Pochettino being under pressure a month or so ago," he told Sky Sports. "I think it would be madness to change the coach whose quality of work with these types of player is renowned.
"Making sure you have stability through another transfer window seems more critical than the idea someone else would come in and do a better job. That doesn't feel right here.
"He's a proven coach. One of the great coaches in the Premier League in the last five, six, seven years. Pochettino has had some up and down moments this season. But this is a good one."
Chelsea's victory over Tottenham moved them up to eighth in the Premier League and now within three points of Manchester United in sixth.
United have also struggled for consistency this season, raising doubts over their own manager Erik ten Hag as the end of the season nears.
There have also been reports that most of United's players will be up for sale when the transfer window opens, with or without Ten Hag in charge.
Ten Hag labelled those rumours "untrue", and Neville is adamant there will not be wholesale changes to the squad during the close season.
"To be fair, you know it's not true," the United legend said. "I mean [Kobbie] Mainoo is not for sale – there's no way that man can be sold so every player can't be for sale, it's impossible. There's no way United could sell their best young players.
"There's a lack of stability here at Chelsea at the moment, but there's a lack of stability at United. Richard Arnold, John Murtough, Patrick Stewart, Cliff Baty, all the senior management, Darren Fletcher's been moved to a different role within the club, Jason Wilcox has come in.
"I can understand why there is quite a few players who will be under pressure and potentially would be sold, but I can't believe it's every player or anywhere near that."
Ten Hag admits Man United missed out on Kane
Erik ten Hag has confirmed that Manchester United wanted to sign Harry Kane last year but were unable to bring him to the club.
The England captain joined Bayern Munich and has scored 43 goals so far in his maiden Bundesliga season.
United instead brought in Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta, though the forward initially struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League, failing to score in his first 14 matches in the competition.
Overall, the forward has netted 14 times in all competitions, with eight of those coming in the top-flight, but Ten Hag admitted that the club did try to bring in a more high-profile striker.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "This club can only have outstanding players because the expectations are so high. Manchester United is the biggest, or maybe second or third, biggest club in the world, the highest fanbase, so expectations will always be there.
"Everyone has an opinion about Manchester United and it can only be outstanding players.
"That's players who have all the skill set, that is the physical and especially the mental skill set they need to perform and contribute because we have to win every game. There's an expectation around every game from us so you can only fulfil that expectation when you have those outstanding players.
"But in the last decade and in this period, we couldn't always get the players we wanted. But then you have to build, and you have to accept that you get talent in instead of players who already proved it in the past.
"We have had some choices made with talents like Rasmus Hojlund. I can see a striker who already proved it, who we want to sign, and we couldn't get him. And then we went to Rasmus because he's a talent."
When asked if the unnamed striker he was referring to was Kane, Ten Hag confirmed that the 30-year-old had been a target for them.
He continued: "Yes, and you know Harry Kane will get you 30 goals. I think Rasmus will get there, but he needs time. It's not fair to assess him the same as Harry Kane. I would never compare two players because they are very different.
"But with Hojlund, I think we had the biggest potential in the striker position last summer, and we are very happy with him. But he also needs time to adapt, and we are very pleased he showed his assets in scoring goals.
"He had a very good period where he scored many games after he showed it, but before and after, he had some physical issues, which is normal for a young player coming up. But it has a negative impact on the team result and that's what you have to accept."
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