Red Devils face a heartbreaking defeat in opener
Manchester United’s Premier League 2025-26 campaign opener did no go as planned. The ‘Red Devils’ had to face a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat at the hands of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. Manchester United’s Premier League 2025-26 campaign opener did no go as planned. The ‘Red Devils’ had to face a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat at the hands of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. Manchester United controlled much of the game against Arsenal but ultimately slipped to defeat when Riccardo Calafiori rose to head in the decisive goal. United responded strongly, creating 22 attempts and dominating possession, but a £200 million front line of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and substitute Benjamin Sesko failed to beat goalkeeper David Raya. Patrick Dorgu hit the post, while Cunha and Mbeumo were denied by Raya’s reflexes. Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were United’s standout performers, with the latter denied what appeared to be a clear penalty — another example of the questionable officiating that has marred the start of the season. The controversy didn’t end there. Arsenal’s winning goal also raised eyebrows, with William Saliba seemingly backing into Altay Bayındır while holding onto the goalkeeper’s arm. Even so, Bayındır will feel he should have dealt with the situation more convincingly and that was something Ruben Amorim echoed after the match. While there was plenty of attention on the Arsenal goal and the controversy surrounding that, it was the foul on Cunha inside the box which simply stunned fans. Saliba attempted to play the ball but only got the foot of Cunha, who went down, and VAR waved it away so quickly. During the game, ex-Premier League referee Mike Dean attempted to explain why the foul was not looked at by the VAR but he just confused fans further. The ex-referee said that the contact from Saliba was fine as it was ‘foot on foot contact’. the Portuguese coach said “We need to win games but that was completely different to last season. We were the better team. In the end we lose the game, but really proud of the performance. We proved today we can win any game in the Premier League, against a great team like Arsenal,” the Portuguese coach said. However, a controversial call regarding an apparent foul on Matheus Cunha sunk the game into controversy. Fans on social media were livid as they claimed that William Saliba’s attempt for the ball was completely missed and he ended up tripping up United’s new signing Matheus Cunha. Despite several appeals from the Red Devils, no penalty was.
‘The better team lost, PSG told us’: Arsenal manager Arteta after UCL semis loss; Enrique disagrees
Trophy-hungry Arsenal will end one more season without any silverware after losing 2-1 and 3-1 on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League at Parc des Princes on Thursday, failing in their bid to become only the third team in the tournament’s history to reach the Champions League final after losing the first leg of its semifinal at home. Although Arsenal’s play was good throughout the semifinal in both legs, they lost both matches to a rock-solid PSG. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believed Arsenal were the better side. “I think so (the better team lost). Especially for 160 minutes. They (PSG) told us,” he said, referring to PSG admitting it, too. “It was a case of most of the performance was there, but just the finishing of the chances wasn’t.” Arsenal enjoyed most of the possession in the second leg in Paris. The Gunners had 61 attacks compared to PSG’s 26, including 19 attempts at goal. However, PSG manager Luis Enrique said Arteta is his great friend, but he disagreed with his point of view and believed PSG deserved to proceed to the finals. Arteta also pointed out that PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had been the best player in both legs with his decisive saves. “He has won the game for them,” Arteta said. “We know that, to win a competition, someone in one of the two boxes has to do something special, to win it for you and make it happen.” Arsenal have not won major silverware since lifting the FA Cup nearly five years ago in manager Mikel Arteta’s first season in charge. They lost the Champions League final to Barcelona in 2006 and the semi-finals to Manchester United in 2009 and have not been back to the last four since.
