Bergamo was the setting for United's second Champions League group stage encounter with Atalanta, two weeks on from the reds' impressive 3-2 comeback win at Old Trafford. Although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side came into the match top of the group, a loss could very easily have sent them down to third. Given they had lost their previous three games on the road in the competition, it wasn't too unlikely a prospect.
With Victor Lindelof missing through a minor knock sustained in training, eyes were firmly on Solskjaer's team selection; many expected the system adopted against Spurs to be retained, but the Swede's absence threw doubt into that prospect. However, the Norwegian did opt to maintain the 3-4-1-2 style approach even in Lindelof's absence. Some speculated that Luke Shaw may drop onto the left side of the back three to facilitate an Alex Telles inclusion at left wingback, yet it was Eric Bailly who earned a rare start to the right of Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire. The wingbacks were hereby unchanged, though Paul Pogba replaced Fred alongside Scott McTominay in midfield for his first start since the Leicester defeat. Ahead of Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford was preferred to Edinson Cavani alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
Speaking of Ronaldo, he was the first to unleash a goalbound effort very early in proceedings - Juan Musso wasn't really threatened, but it was an early wake up call for Atalanta. After the opportunity for United's number seven, it was the hosts who begun to really dominate affairs. Nonetheless, it was the reds who managed to come closest to taking the lead early on. Shaw took advantage of Teun Koopmeiners' tame pass, allowing United to attack through Fernandes and subsequently Rashford. The latter's attempt was blocked, but Pogba picked up the pieces and laid McTominay off to hit; the effort was quite timid, but a deflection took it agonisingly close as the ball rather trickled onto the post.
The Gewiss Stadium wasn't at absolutely full capacity, but the atmosphere around the ground was nothing short of sensational. Atalanta took advantage. Fuelled by the crowd, they were able to engineer a very threatening move as Duvan Zapata attacked Aaron Wan-Bissaka's right following the ball ricocheting off McTominay into his path. The Colombian squared the ball to Josip Ilicic, with his effort finding its way through Shaw's legs and squirming beneath David de Gea. Given his form this season, it can definitely be deemed a rare error for the Spaniard; the effort wasn't hit with utmost power, thus he'll have been very disappointed (even if he was marginally impeded by Shaw).
The defensive stats don't make good reading for United. Solskjaer's side have now conceded first eight times from their opening 15 matches this season, with the manager overseeing his team concede first in nine of his 14 Champions League matches at the post. Furthermore, United have failed to keep a clean sheet in 14 of their past 15 matches in the competition - they are currently on an eight match streak without completing a Champions League shutout.
Following the goal, there were opportunities at both ends. Ronaldo glanced a header comfortably wide, whilst Zapata fired over having somehow found himself through on goal. Overall, it was United who had the share of attempts on goal throughout the opening half hour (though there was nothing overly threatening from the visitors). The quality was often poor on the ball, with a lack of presence allowing Atalanta to have the better share of things on the whole. Ilicic was causing immense trouble for the United defence with his movement, often dropping in and around the midfield and disjointing the back line.
On top in the game, Atalanta had a golden opportunity to double their advantage gifted to them by Pogba. The Frenchman lost the ball on the edge of his own box having tried to do far too much in possession, with Zapata consequently finding himself through on goal. Unexplainably, Bailly managed to incredibly throw himself at the goalward ball and aerially deny what would have been a certain goal.
In fact, another move for the Italian outfit shortly after came from Pogba losing the ball. Again, Bailly marshalled Zapata expertly and produced yet another important block. He was justifying his selection, and to some extent.
United were on the ropes, and things did get worse - although not through concession of a goal. Completely off the ball, Varane went to ground with a seeming muscular issue. It's now confirmed that he'll be out of action for around another month, with the issue a revealed to be a hamstring strain. He only returned from a groin injury against Spurs at the weekend, and joins Lindelof on the list of injured centre backs.
Solskjaer was down to only two established centre backs at his disposal, opting to introduce Mason Greenwood and revert to a back four. To be frank, the efficiency of the initial system was somewhat inferior to that of an Atalanta side who regularly use the same approach.
United really struggled on the ball for the most part, allowed very little time by Atalanta's aggressive mannerisms. The reds were too slow on the ball, costing them during attacking phases. However - to cap off the opening period - United did up the ante and in hand levelled affairs. It was quite something, too. Pogba fended off Koopmeiners to begin the move, before finding McTominay in an area where he could locate Fernandes in space. There was fantastic intricacy on display as Ronaldo received the ball from his compatriot and niftily offloaded to Greenwood, with the substitute brilliantly slotting first time into the path of Fernandes' run into the box. The ball was backheeled into the path of the onrushing Ronaldo with precision by his countryman, with the striker executing the final finish without any hesitance. It was a hugely important to equalise right on the stroke of half time.
With momentum on their side following Ronaldo's goal, United did come out with more poise and intent after the break. There were some half-chances for each side as the second period commenced though, with a troubling effort from Koopmeiners and a Fernandes attempt that forced a significant block from Jose Palomino. United's improvement was almost marked by a Greenwood goal, with the youngster rattling the post but ultimately ruled offside anyway.
United then got away with one as Zapata converted but was ruled offside - at least they thought they'd got away with one. After an extremely lengthy VAR review, the original decision was overturned as the Atalanta striker was ruled to have been level with Maguire. Really, the line was poor from the United captain. Palomino's ball over the top was a classy one, with Zapata running off Bailly and evading Maguire's last ditch attempt at a recovery tackle. The organisation was poor, with the defence seemingly switching off and simply assuming that Zapata was offside.
There were real issues for United, as Atalanta all of a sudden had momentum wholly on their side. Maguire was caught out again in subsequence to the goal, with Bailly called to intervene again as he continued to be faced with the task of marshalling Zapata.
Solskjaer's first unenforced alterations came around the midway point of the half. Nemanja Matic replaced Pogba even though McTominay was precariously sat on a booking, exacerbating the extent of the lacklustre showing from the French midfielder. At the same time, Cavani replaced the relatively ineffective Rashford.
Nothing really changed. United grew increasingly passive, whilst overplaying and unforced errors cost them in promising areas - where confidence seemed to lack. Atalanta were very compact in defence, limiting United's major assets (especially Fernandes) amidst some excellent discipline. One good chance fell to Wan-Bissaka, but his half volley was actually blocked by Greenwood.
There was a disappointing lack of urgency off the ball from United too, allowing Atalanta too much time when they had possession. There was one particularly striking instance where Bailly was forced to deny an uncontested cross on the stretch - the epitome of proceedings throughout most of the second half.
It took until less than five minutes remaining for Donny van de Beek and Jadon Sancho to finally be introduced having been limbering up for some time prior, with McTominay and Fernandes withdrawn. The final push was underway.
Van de Beek managed to gain some involvement quite soon after his introduction after a Sancho surge, showing tenacity inside the box to shift the ball towards the edge of the area. Ronaldo managed to collect after the ball came loose from the resultant interception, but was tackled having cut inside. The move wasn't over though, with Greenwood working immensely hard to recover the ball - causing it to bounce upwards with Ronaldo lingering. The Portuguese international absolutely fired the falling ball on the volley from the edge of the box, leaving Musso absolutely hopeless.
It was late again, and not a winner this time, but still a huge goal in the scheme of things. One point was the difference between United restoring their top spot and falling to third - one defeat from elimination.
A winner was almost functioned from nothing in the closing moments of injury time, with Van de Beek again causing trouble inside the box; this time, he got a shot away but was denied by Musso's outstretched hand. His impact was certainly a positive one.
The performance wasn’t all there, but once again Ronaldo proved his greatness. His ability to step up and be able to consistently produce when it matters is breathtaking. It’s unbelievable to think that people were viewing him as the problem only a matter of weeks ago. He is entirely fitting into the system, and the views that he doesn’t work or press are ludicrously mythical. United would be nowhere without the him, with three late goals in Europe (five overall) bailing his side out of severe trouble.
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