Manchester United Women are through to the next round of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, drawing Atletico Madrid in the playoff round of the tournament.
The Reds already took down Atletico earlier in
the group phase, taking all three points home after holding on with just 10 players after a red card. It came as part of a strong start to the competition, but the team’s form took a turn for the worse over the last month.
I wasn’t able to watch the Lyon match as I was working, but I was quite surprised when I saw the starting XI chosen by manager Marc Skinner. I was suddenly less anxious about the match, but not in a good way. I wanted to feel as though there was a chance for the Reds, and I certainly didn’t want a manager to treat the occasion in the same way Sir Alex Ferguson would treat a 2nd round League Cup match.
Once again, Skinner opted to rotate for the midweek matchup against Europe’s perennial contenders. United have experienced plenty of lows in the last month or so after riding the high of a good start to the season. The Reds began Women’s Super League play with three straight wins, including a 2-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
Defeats to Wolfsburg and Lyon were not enough to derail United’s European form, but it was a worrying turn in the season. Skinner has been under fire from fans for these periods of poor form popping up, and his rotation came across as a bit of a white flag.
United closed out their group phase slate on Wednesday with a 1-0 win at Juventus, with Jess Park scoring the lone goal of the game. The result came after an eventual weekend in the Women’s Super League, which saw the Reds overcome a 3-0 deficit at home against Spurs to earn a draw.
United will face Atletico on Feb. 11 in the 1st leg and Feb. 18 in the 2nd leg of the Round of 16 matchup.
