In Manchester United’s 1-0 loss at FC Basel in the UEFA Champions League group stage clash tonight, defender Daley Blind switched off and lost his man, opening the door to Michael Lang scoring the game winner in the 89′.
A draw would have been enough to officially clinch United’s passage through to the knockout round, but their chances are all but certain anyway. After the match, Blind blamed himself, but manager Jose Mourinho said that would be unfair.
“The second half went up and down, they created the possibility, gave a good cross, he came round the back and I was a bit late,” Blind said.
“We have enough confidence in the group going forward. It’s not a reality check.”
While Blind says that this is not a reality check for him and his side, the manager said it would be wrong to single out the Dutchman. United will still advance to the round of 16, unless United lose 7-0 to CSKA Moscow at home, AND Basel beats Benfica. The former is certainly not happening, so there’s no cause for concern with the latter.
Here’s what Jose Mourinho had to say about Daley Blind after the game:
“The only thing I can get from the goal is the low cross, the right-back coming in front of Daley. I know that in the flash interview Daley was blaming himself.”
“It’s totally unfair. I refuse that situation because we are a team, and in the first half we should be winning five or 6-0 and that was not Daley’s fault for sure.”
Mourinho also admitted that Paul Pogba withdrawing from the match early had an impact on the result. More on that here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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