Manchester United secured a dramatic 1-0 victory against Danish side Copenhagen last night, just about keeping their Champions League dream alive.
A last-gasp Andre Onana penalty save meant Harry Maguire’s 72nd-minute header was enough to give United an imperative three points against the plucky Danes.
On a night of high drama at Old Trafford, United needed to dig deep to win a game that they were second best in for large periods.
Ten Hag’s side also had to contend with some rather strange refereeing decisions with Italian official Marco Guida having a night a forget.
After an end-to-end first period, Guida not only decided to not add any stoppage time but blew for the break with 15 seconds of the half remaining.
As reported by The Sun, fans were left in shock at the bizarre decision to call time on 44:45, sentiments echoed by the commentary team on TNT Sport who labelled it “strange”.
United supporters took to social media to call out the decision with one fan saying “Never witnessed a referee blowing the whistle before 45 minutes,” and another writing “The game ended at 44mins. Is the referee drunk?”
However, United were able to regroup at half-time and win the game in the second period after some tactical changes swung the game in the home side’s favour.
The questionable timekeeping wasn’t the only decision the Italian official made a mess of on the night having decided that Marcus Rashford was offside when racing through on goal before being wiped out by the Copenhagen ‘keeper.
As it turned out, Rashford looked level with the Danish backline which would have surely led to a game-changing red card for Kamil Grabara, who made some fine saves on the night.
Yet, United were not to be denied and Maguire’s header has given them hope of qualifying for the knockout phase with the reverse fixtures in the group still to be played.
Next up for Ten Hag’s troops is the crunch clash with neighbours Manchester City in which United will need to perform much better to take a positive result from the Derby.