TIL Desk Sports/ Manchester United’s woes deepened as stunning goals by Moussa Sow and Jeremain Lens gave Fenerbahce a 2-1 Europa League win on Thursday that left Jose Mourinho’s side facing a battle to reach the knockout stages. Without a victory in four Premier League games, United desperately needed a morale-lifting result in Turkey but were undone by a brilliant second-minute overhead kick from Sow and a superb curling set piece by Lens before Wayne Rooney smashed home a consolation.
While Mourinho’s men are third in Group A, Zenit St Petersburg, Ajax Amsterdam, Shakhtar Donetsk and Schalke 04 have all sauntered through to the knockout rounds with two matches to spare. What Mourinho would give for an in-form striker like Athletic Bilbao’s Aritz Aduriz who became the first player to score five times in a Europa League match, his haul comprising three penalties in a 5-3 triumph over Racing Genk in Group F.
A gloomy pall has descended over Mourinho’s reign at Old Trafford with the manager under scrutiny for his team’s poor start and the disciplinary problems that have earned him a domestic one-match touchline ban. After victories in their last two group games, Europe’s second-tier competition had supplied United with some relief from their league struggles but they were sliced apart by Fenerbahce who exposed some glaring defensive weaknesses. The two spectacular goals they conceded, however, were almost unstoppable.
