Manchester United's below par performances in all the competitions continued, with the Red Devils losing to Fenerbahce in the Europa League on Thursday. Jose Mourinho's team lost the crucial encounter 1-2, and the Turkish club, with this win, have climbed to the top of the table with seven points, while United lie in third place.
Fenerbahce could not have got off to a more brilliant start as they scored the opening goal in the second minute of the match. The crowd went into frenzy after an outrageous bicycle kick goal from Moussa Sow, which had class written all over it.
After the goal, United did play some neat football, and enjoyed decent possession, but they did not have much to show for their efforts. They suffered another setback around the 30th minute as Paul Pogba limped off the pitch due to an injury, and the Frenchman was replaced by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was later involved in some clash with Simon Kjaer as well to spice things up.
With Fenerbahce going into the break 1-0, they were aware of United and their ability to comeback from behind to win the match in the second half. The Turkish giants doubled their lead in the 59th minute with yet another amazing goal, this time from Jeremain Lens, who curled the ball splendidly well to get past David de Gea.
Mourinho immediately made a change, bringing on Henrikh Mkhitaryan, hoping that the former Borussia Dortmund player will get their game right, and help them make a comeback. Despite the possession, United were not able to make it count in the final third.
Just when one thought that the score would end 2-0 in favour of the Fenerbahce, Wayne Rooney, out of the blue, scored a brilliant goal from around 28 yards out to make it 2-1. The England international seemed to get a new lease of life with the goal, and nearly scored another goal in the dying minutes, but his header was cleared off the line by the Fenerbahce player.
Despite the loss for United, their objective of reaching the knockout stages is not yet over. They need to play some better football to reach the next round. United have two matches remaining in the group stages.
