Scott McTominay was angered by the officiating and reaction of Paris St Germain’s players in a defeat that leaves Manchester United’s Champions League hopes hanging in the balance.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side started Group H with impressive wins against the perennial French champions and RB Leipzig, but head into the final matchday level on nine points with those sides.
United blew their chance to secure their place in the knockout phase with a match to spare on Wednesday evening, when a point against last season’s Champions League finalists PSG would have been enough.
🗣 After a frustrating night at Old Trafford, @McTominay10 has his sights on next Tuesday's all-important encounter 😤#MUFC#UCL— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 3, 2020
Marcus Rashford’s deflected effort cancelled out an early Neymar strike in a first half that saw Fred somehow avoid a red card for pushing his head into that of Leandro Paredes.
The United midfielder would get his marching orders after collecting a second yellow card shortly after Marquinhos scored in the second half, with Neymar wrapping up a 3-1 win for PSG in stoppage-time.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow when you watch the way the game pans out,” United midfielder McTominay said.
“Obviously it’s a sloppy goal to concede and then the way we played after that I thought we were brilliant. I thought that the way we approached the game was with total focus.
“The way the game panned out in general was – I’ve not really got an awful lot to comment on the way the referee, their players… but that’s football. You’re going to get that when you play in Europe.”
McTominay and Neymar had a coming together late in the first half, with the pair arguing as they headed towards the tunnel.
United responded well after half-time, with Anthony Martial wasting two great opportunities and Edinson Cavani seeing an audacious chipped effort hit the bar.
“We’ve got so much quality up there and the coaches and all the players in general have got such belief in the strikers in general,” McTominay said.
PSG wrap up the win against Man Utd with a lightning counter-attack started and finished by Neymar 🔥— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 2, 2020
“Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in the net. That can be football but, as I say, decisions, referees, their players. It’s a tough night.
“Whenever we’re coming away from that game with nothing… I even said at half-time if we don’t get anything from this game, then we should be coming into this dressing room so disappointed and angry with each other that we’ve not.
“But, as I say, decisions and VAR can change football.”
When a narrow VAR offside call that went Marquinhos’ way shortly before Fred picked up a second yellow card for a seemingly clean challenge was put to McTominay, he said shaking his head: “The reaction of their players is… I’ve got nothing to say about that.
“Obviously you get in trouble if you start speaking about reactions and the referee and stuff like that.
“I’m hearing that their goal was partly offside as well from our dressing room. I’ve not seen it back.
“So, for us, where’s the balance in the game with how the referees approach decisions?
“For us, we’re seeing it week in, week out, which is they’re making mistakes so, for us, it has to be rectified. Get football back to the way it was.”
McTominay’s frustration was palpable, but he vowed to take positives heading into next week’s crunch clash in Leipzig.
Solskjaer’s men beat the German outfit 5-0 at Old Trafford and need a positive result to progress to the round of 16.
“The result at home is completely out of the equation now,” McTominay told MUTV.
“We forget about that. It’s a game where we have to go and win. It’s a game where you can’t just go there and play for a point. You have to go and approach it like you want to win that football match and that’s definitely what we’re going to do.”
