Oct 13, 2026 8:59 PM

A nightmare start in Madrid and a controversial red card condemned Michael Carrick’s side to defeat, as several big-name stars struggled to perform on a dismal European night.

Michael Carrick made several changes to his starting XI as Manchester United flew to Madrid for a major Champions League away day against Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano.

With Andrey Santos, Carlos Baleba, and Ayden Heaven in the starting team, the fixture started poorly, with Pablo Barrios opening the scoring for the visitors in the first minute.

Bryan Mbeumo found himself on the end of multiple good chances, and another fell to Marcus Rashford as United grew into the game, but after no finishing touch, Johnny Cardoso had a second ruled out for Atleti just before half-time due to a handball.

In the second half, United continued to push with the game looking even, with Carrick refreshing his side with 25 minutes to go. However, a horrible error from the referee and VAR saw Leny Yoro dismissed wit 15 minutes to play and United down to 10 men.

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Just minutes later, a second for the home side was added by Ademola Lookman, and with the man advantage, Atletico saw out the Champions League tie comfortably.

United player ratings vs Atletico

Senne Lammens – 5/10

Not his best game, but he looked better with the ball at his feet than against Tottenham. He could have done better with his parry just before Lookman's goal.

Diogo Dalot – 4/10

Nothing standout.

Leny Yoro – 7.5/10

After playing well at right-back on Saturday, Yoro returned to centre-back and delivered a commanding performance. His sending-off was a complete joke, so I'm not including it in his rating.

Lisandro Martínez – 5.5/10

A few interesting moment as always from Marteinz and struggled a bit with runs in behind.

Ayden Heaven – 4/10

Playing at left-back, Atletico had a fair amount of joy down his flank. Probably 

Carlos Baleba – 7/10

Good first start so far for Baleba, looking strong and quick in midfield, with some great passing. More match fitness will only improve him.

Andrey Santos – 6/10

Better performance so far compared to previous games, but looked a little lost as the tie went on

Youri Tielemans – 5/10

Played a more advanced role, but felt that United's counterattacks sometimes allowed the ball to bypass him, limiting his impact.

Bruno Fernandes – 4/10

Looks very tired, was poor out of possession in the first half. Didn't do much in the second, either. 

Bryan Mbeumo – 6/10

Carved himself out some good chances, looked dangerous but couldn't finish when needed.

Marcus Rashford – 3/10

A poor performance from the Manchester man; he couldn't quite beat his man as much as he would have liked and missed a good first-half chance.

Substitutes

Joshua Zirkzee – 3/10

Anonymous after coming on.

Amad – 5/10

Tried to create some chances, didn't come to much.

Mason Mount – 3/10

Anonymous.

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