Champions League: Man United under pressure and Barcelona aims to end barren run
Under-pressure Manchester United was playing Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Barcelona also faced a testing trip to Galatasaray.
United has won just once in the Premier League this season and already exited the English League Cup, turning the spotlight on coach Michael Carrick. A loss to Diego Simeone's Atletico would put Carrick under more scrutiny.
“I understand when it’s not going too well there’s a real kind of clamor and a real feeling of, ‘It’s a disaster, it’s all wrong and everything needs to be changed,’" Carrick said ahead of the match at the Metropolitano. “I kind of get that but that’s not in our mindset. That’s certainly not in my mindset.
“To achieve anything, really, you’ve got to be able to deal with things that are difficult and you’ve got to overcome things. That’s just part of it.”
There are no such concerns at Barcelona, which has made a 100% winning start to the campaign.
Hansi Flick's team was in Turkey to face Galatasaray and the coach faced questions about whether Barcelona could end its barren run in the Champions League, which it has not won since 2015.
“We have that hunger, and I share it with the team. It’s not easy and we have to work very hard. That’s what we have to do every day,” he said.
"It’s a very long journey. We have to stay focused and approach every game with our mentality.”
Other games on Tuesday included last season's runner-up Arsenal against Lille, Bayern Munich at Viking and Inter Milan hosting Club Brugge.
Azerbaijani outsider Sabah claimed its first win in the league phase of the competition by beating Slavia Prague 2-0.
Second-half goals from Kaheem Parris and Joy-Lance Mickels secured the historic win in Baku. The club was only founded nine years ago.
Sporting Lisbon also sealed a 2-0 win at Lens through goals from Luis Suarez and Issa Doumbia.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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