United stay perfect in Europe as Earps upstaged on return

Marc Skinner's side show fight as changes help defeat PSG under Old Trafford lights

Fridolina Rolfo (left) celebrates scoring Manchester United’s second goal. Credit: Getty Images

Manchester United made it three wins from three Champions League games as they beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

United are now third in the table, alongside Barcelona and Lyon as the only sides with maximum points. Not bad company to be mixing in. After the shock defeat to Aston Villa, how did United turn their performance around? Here’s what I saw.

Skinner’s changes make difference

Marc Skinner made five changes to the side that faced Villa at the weekend, with two of those enforced, by injury to Phallon Tullis-Joyce and Dominique Janssen’s suspension.

United’s head coach also made tactical changes, with Simi Awujo and Melvine Malard coming in for Ella Toone and Elisabeth Terland. Both Awujo and Malard had a positive impact on the game, with Malard helping to push the PSG defence deep with some excellent runs into the channels.

United had less of the ball than their opponents overall (47%-53% possession) and looked shaky inside the first 15 minutes, but they started to get a foothold in the game after that, with Hinata Miyazawa and Julia Zigiotti Olme getting more involved.

Their opening goal, just after the half-hour mark, was initiated by Jayde Riviere playing the ball over the top, and the rest was all about Malard. Bullying the defender and running through on goal, many fans in the ground were shouting for her to square the ball to the wide-open Fridolina Rolfo in the middle, but Malard instead finished emphatically into the far corner, a level of composure in front of goal we haven’t always seen from her this season.

PSG equalised right on half-time through Olga Carmona, which was probably a fair reflection of the half overall but a stinging blow to United given the timing.

They recovered to regain the lead, though, a second goal the result of brilliant team play between Jess Park, Zigiotti Olme and Anna Sandberg, and finished off by Rolfo.

Two players I highlighted after the Aston Villa game as being huge misses for the side were Zigiotti Olme and Sandberg, and both had big parts to play in the goal. Zigiotti Olme drifted out wide into the right-wing position, pulling two players with her from the PSG midfield and opening up space for Park to run through the centre of the pitch. Park drove the ball across to the left side of the box, and from there Sandberg floated a brilliant cross to find Rolfo.