Manchester United hosted Twente at Old Trafford in the first match of the Europa League 2024/25 group stage. Despite being highly rated and having home field advantage, coach Erik ten Hag and his team encountered many difficulties against the Dutch team’s sharp counter-attacking style of play.

 

The match started at a moderate pace, with both teams probing and keeping possession. Manchester United slowly created dangerous chances, but Marcus Rashford and Diogo Dalot’s passes were not sharp enough to trouble the Twente defence.

It wasn’t until the 35th minute that the Red Devils opened the scoring. After a scramble in the penalty area, Christian Eriksen seized the opportunity to finish, sending the ball into the top corner of the goal, helping MU take a 1-0 lead.

In the rest of the first half, Twente tried to find an equalizer but could not create many dangerous situations. MU maintained a 1-0 advantage after the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, Twente played more explosively and continuously put pressure on MU’s defense. In the 68th minute, from a fatal mistake by Christian Eriksen when losing the ball in the middle of the field, Sam Lammers successfully took advantage of the opportunity, easily putting the ball into the net from close range, helping Twente equalize 1-1.

In the final minutes of the match, Manchester United pushed up their formation in search of the decisive goal. However, shots from Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho and Diogo Dalot could not get past Twente’s defense and goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall. The most notable moment came in the 89th minute when Diogo Dalot fired a shot from outside the box, but was blocked by the opposing defender.

At the end of the match, Manchester United accepted a disappointing draw against Twente, losing the chance to win despite having the advantage from the first half.