3 reasons why Manchester United lost against Juventus

#2 The space between Smalling and Lindelof

Manchester United v Juventus - UEFA Champions League Group H

Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof were quite impressive after that goal went in. They held their ground well with Lindelof being the standout performer for the team with some brilliant defending and solid forward passing of the ball.

However, their positioning in the first quarter of the game was quite poor. They allowed far too much space between each other and Dybala was always looking to attack the space they were leaving behind. This ultimately resulted in the game's only goal.

Lindelof is growing in confidence and looks like he has it in him to repay Mourinho's faith. But they can't let these mistakes keep happening.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad