Atletico Madrid 2-0 Man United: At least Michael Carrick and Co avoided a thrashing – but the head coach is running out of time as dreadful start rolls on, writes CHRIS WHEELER

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1h ago

By CHRIS WHEELER, NORTHERN SPORTS WRITER 22:03 13 Oct 2026, updated 22:08 13 Oct 2026

On the eve of this test of Manchester United’s character and his own managerial credentials, Michael Carrick asked to be given more time. When the heat was on in the Metropolitano, his team’s resistance didn’t last a single minute.

There were 50 seconds on the clock when Pablo Barrios fired Atletico Madrid in front. At that stage you feared for United and you feared for Carrick. Maybe we still should.

As the Atletico fans smelled blood, a fourth defeat in nine games this season seemed like the least of his troubles. It felt like United were heading for a mauling in Madrid, the like of which can cost a struggling head coach his job.

No doubt Sir Jim Ratcliffe, sat in the stands here, and United’s 3,500 travelling fans felt the same way.

Credit to United, though. They stood strong, just as Carrick had asked them to, even after they were reduced to 10 men when Leny Yoro was sent off in the 74th minute and Ademola Lookman added a second. They rode their luck a little at times as Atletico had another goal ruled out and hit the woodwork twice.

But a 2-0 defeat here isn’t the worst result in the world, and there were some positives to be found in United’s refusal to lie down and the performances of Youri Tielemans as a No.10 and Carlos Baleba on his first start.

Carrick is by no means out of the woods though. Leeds await at Elland Road on Sunday and he is running out of games to prove that he can halt a dreadful start to the season.

Having masterminded United’s last away win in the Champions League against Villarreal when he was caretaker boss back in November 2021, he badly needed another good result here in Spain.

After launching their European campaign with the easiest of wins over Sabah of Azerbaijan, United had failed to win any of their four games and lost two of them.

Carrick rang the changes in a bid to stop the rot. Baleba was handed a full debut and made a difference alongside Andrey Santos in midfield.

Tielemans moved into the No.10 role which seemed to suit him better, and Bruno Fernandes switched to the right flank. It was the action of a head coach who knew that something had to change, and fast.

The choice of defence did not bode well as Ayden Heaven came in to play left-back for the first time next to Lisandro Martinez, Yoro and Diogo Dalot. The last time those four played together at Leeds in January, Ruben Amorim was sacked the next day.

But Carrick had struck a defiant tone on the eve of this game and it continued right up until kick-off. ‘It’s not pressure,’ he said. ‘It’s what we do. It’s why we’re here, it’s what we live for, it’s part of the business. You’re going to get some results that don’t go your way, and you’ve got to find a way to overcome that.’

In contrast, Atletico were on a four-game winning run since losing their Champions League opener to Liverpool at Anfield.

Diego Simeone was without his captain Koke, who had been given compassionate leave following the death of his mother. The minute’s silence for Ana Merodio Borja lasted longer than United’s clean sheet as they fell behind from the first attack of the game.

A simple throughball split the defence, and Alex Baena was onto it. He squared for the unmarked Barrios and his shot squirmed under Heaven’s body before trickling agonisingly over the line.

It felt as though United were teetering on the point of collapse at that stage, but they cleared their heads and came close to an equaliser on several occasions.

Tielemans played in Bryan Mbeumo whose effort was deflected inches wide, Marcus Rashford fluffed a volley in front of goal, and Mbeumo had another attempt saved by Jan Oblak after a one-two with Tielemans.

But Atletico were able to attack into acres of space every time they beat United’s four-man press, and they had chances too. Alejandro Grimaldo clipped the top of the bar with a free kick and the Spaniards thought they had a second when Johnny Cardoso scored after Rashford switched off in defence and Marcos Lorente got in behind.

However, VAR official Pol van Boekel spotted Cardoso’s handball as he went into a challenge with Heaven and sent Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg to the monitor. Simeone, already in the book for remonstrating with the officials, was suitably unimpressed.

Alvarez rattled the post less than 10 minutes after the restart, but Fernandes was inches away from equalising from another Tielemans pass.

Carrick’s hopes of salvaging anything from the game all but disappeared when Yoro brought down Lookman when he was through on goal 18 minutes from time and Nyberg produced a red card after another VAR intervention.

Atletico took advantage in the 79th minute when Senne Lammens kept out Jonathan David’s effort but Lookman followed up to score.

It wasn’t the result Carrick wanted, of course, but it could have been considerably worse.

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