Atletico Madrid vs Man Utd Report: 10-Man United Beaten in Controversial UCL Clash
Atletico Madrid made it 10 wins from their last 12 Champions League group games as they cruised to a 2-0 victory over a 10-man Manchester United side in the Spanish capital.
Atletico's approach did not waver after the break and it almost brought a second goal within 10 minutes of the restart...
A controversial UEFA Champions League clash went Atletico Madrid's way, as they beat 10-man Manchester United 2-0 to claim their first points of the league phase and extend their unbeaten head-to-head run to five matches.
Michael Carrick is under mounting pressure as Manchester United boss, and if his final instruction to his players was to keep it tight early on, they failed badly.
Just 53 seconds had elapsed when United were cut open by a single ball in behind to Alex Baena, who kept his composure to cut it back for Pablo Barrios to sweep home the opener despite Ayden Heaven's desperate effort on the line.
After soaking up further pressure, United almost hit back against the run of play when Bryan Mbeumo wriggled free inside the box, only to see his effort deflected just wide by the studs of Jan Oblak.
The duo were at it again midway through the first half, when after exchanging passes with Youri Tielemans, Mbeumo cut in from the left and saw his near-post strike kept out by Oblak, who then denied Carlos Baleba on his full debut from the resulting corner.
Alejandro Grimaldo reminded United of Atleti's threat moments later with a free-kick that curled against the angle of post and bar, and United had an even bigger escape on the stroke of half-time when Johnny Cardoso's goal was ruled out after a pitchside review for a handball by Marcos Llorente in the build-up.
Atletico's approach did not waver after the break and it almost brought a second goal within 10 minutes of the restart. Barrios clipped a lovely ball over the top of the United defence and former Manchester City man Julian Alvarez smashed a volley against the post with Senne Lammens beaten.
A similar chance came at the other end almost immediately, as Tielemans floated a ball in behind the Atleti defence on the break, and with Oblak off his line, Bruno Fernandes' lofted effort dropped just the wrong side of the post for those of a United persuasion.
Atleti take all the points against Manchester United 🔴⚪ #UCL https://t.co/U2J6DiJwlp
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 13, 2026
Fernandes was growing in influence and whipped a cross-shot against the crossbar 20 minutes from time, but United's hopes of a comeback were ended moments later when Leny Yoro was retrospectively - and rather harshly - sent off after a clash with Jonathan David, deemed to have denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Insult was added to injury five minutes later when David's initial effort was parried into the path of a grateful Ademola Lookman, who tapped into an empty net.
Carrick knew the game was up from there, as shown by his decision to withdraw Fernandes with one eye on the weekend clash with bitter rivals Leeds, where United will be chasing their first away league win of the season.
It turned out to be a rather straightforward evening for Atletico in the end, although that is something they are growing accustomed to, having now won 10 of their last 12 Champions League group stage/league phase games.
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