Manchester United of the English Premier League (EPL) has been humiliated once again.
The Red Devils lost 2-3 against Galatasaray (Turkiye) in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) Group A match of the 2023-24 season at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on Thursday.
It was United’s second consecutive defeat, following a first-leg loss to Bayern Munich, and dropped them to the bottom of Group A. Galatasaray, who hosted the giants, moved into second place with a 1-1 draw.
Galatasaray’s first goal was scored by Wilfred Zaha, the man who helped them beat United. He has a special relationship with the club. In fact, it’s more like a love-hate relationship.
Zaha moved to United in 2013 and stayed with the club until 2015. However, he was completely ignored by United. He didn’t fit in at the club and went on loan to Crystal Palace and Cardiff City. In total, he played just four games for United. Zaha made a permanent move to Crystal Palace in 2015 and switched to Galatasaray in 2023.
He scored a goal against the team that turned him away. It was Zaha’s UCL debut goal, at Old Trafford. That makes it even more significant. But Zaha refused to celebrate. He was cool about it, saying he was just doing his job.
“I played at Old Trafford and I scored a goal,” he said after the game. This is my first UCL goal. The UCL is a dream stage, playing against the best players. I’m happy to have scored a goal to help the team win. We are trying to win every game. We are mentally strong. This win sends a message,” he said.
Zaha continued, “Everyone on the team knows what we need to do from the time we train. We have a lot of faith in each other. We try to stay calm, and when we do, the talent eventually 토토 shows. It’s an amazing day. We came here to win, and we got the win we wanted. Everyone knows what United are capable of, but we were stronger in spirit,” he emphasized.
He added: “United are a good team. But we had our magic. We kept our mentality, our chances came, and we took them,” he said, expressing his satisfaction with the win.
When asked about scoring against his former club, Zaha said, “I don’t need to celebrate my goals. It’s just my passion. It was my first goal in the UCL. It was an explosion of my passion. What is more important to me is to raise the name of Galatasaray, to bring it to the top. The whole team believes that we can achieve this.”