Manchester United suffered an unexpected Champions League setback on Wednesday as they lost 2-1 to Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey.
Goals from Demba Ba and Edin Visca gave the Turkish side their first win in the competition, with Anthony Martial scoring for United who had won their opening two games in Group H against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig.
– Defensive chaos –
United started the game in the comfort zone, with no sign of the defensive chaos to come in front of a small but vocal crowd.
Luke Shaw fizzed a ball past the far post with his left foot but United, with Marcus Rashford and Martial up front, lacked penetration.
The home side were ahead in the 12th minute after inexplicably poor awareness and organisation allowed unmarshalled ex-Chelsea forward Ba to collect a long ball and race from the halfway line to score, trailed helplessly by Nemanja Matic.
Axel Tuanzebe, who impressed in Paris, had a heart-stopping moment after he pulled Ba back but escaped with a yellow card.
Basaksehir remained threatening on the break, with United worryingly open at the back, and the visitors were caught napping again five minutes before half time.
Deniz Turuc robbed Juan Mata of possession down the left and raced forward, sending over a cross that Ba stepped over and Visca smashed past Dean Henderson, making his Champions League debut in place of David de Gea.
United crucially reduced the deficit in the 43rd minute when Martial steered a Shaw cross home with his head.
Solskjaer hooked off Tuanzebe at the interval, with Scott McTominay coming on and Matic dropping back to play at centre-back alongside Harry Maguire.
United once more enjoyed territorial advantage at the start of the second half and Bruno Fernandes had a free-kick pushed away.
Solskjaer threw on Edinson Cavani and Paul Pogba in place of Mata and Donny van de Beek to add impetus to the attack but ponderous United struggled to create clear chances.
Mason Greenwood came on for Rashford as United continued to search for a way through.
They went agonisingly close to an equaliser in stoppage time when Alexandru Epureanu hacked off the line but they could not rescue a point in the Group H tie.
United appeared to have turned the corner after their 6-1 mauling by Tottenham last month but they have now suffered consecutive defeats to Arsenal and Basaksehir.
“They (two losses) have set us back a lot,” said Solskjaer, whose team travel to Everton on Saturday. “You get a reality check every time you play a game of football.”
