Manchester United’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages of this year’s Champions League are hanging by the barest of threads, as Erik ten Hag’s side are bottom of their respective group after a shock defeat to Danish side FC Copenhagen.
The Red Devils made the ideal start on the night, as summer signing Rasmus Hojlund gave them an early lead after just three minutes. It’s been revealed by bet365 that Manchester United were priced at 4/5 to win the match before it started, and within three minutes of the first goal being scored, they were shortened into 2/7 to hold out for the win.
That lead was then doubled by Hojlund again, as he had the simple task of firing the ball into an empty net after Kamil Grabara had parried Alejandro Garnacho’s effort into the forward’s path. However, the turning point of the game came on 42 minutes, as Marcus Rashford was shown a straight red card for a foul on Elias Jelert after attempting to shield the ball.
Manchester United have drifted out to 66/1 on bet365 to win the 2023/24 Champions League, which is sizeable odds to get behind if they can improve their results in their final two matches of the group stage. Be sure to use the bet365 bonus code when signing up with this operator, as they’re one of the best betting sites around in terms of the welcome offer for new customers.
Rashford was priced at sizeable odds of 66/1 pre-match to be shown a red card against FC Copenhagen, and his dismissal saw the Danish team’s odds be slashed in from 33/1 into 16/1. They were shortened into 15/4 just minutes later, as Mohamed Elyounoussi’s strike saw Copenhagen’s deficit halved. With 13 minutes of additional time being played in the first-half, it saw Copenhagen dominate proceedings, and that pressure soon paid off, as Harry Maguire was adjudged to have handled the ball inside his own penalty area.
Diogo Goncalves converted from the spot to see FC Copenhagen head into the break as favourites at 6/5 to win the match, whilst Manchester United drifted out to 7/2 with a whole half with ten men still to play. However, Erik ten Hag’s side took the lead once again with Bruno Fernandes’ penalty seeing Copenhagen drift back out to 10/1 to win the match with 21 minutes remaining.
Lukas Lerager drew the home side level with just seven minutes remaining, which saw them priced at 7/2 to go on and snatch a late winner, and they did just that in the 87th minutes, as 17-year-old Roony Bardghji’s firing home to spark jubilant scenes amongst the FC Copenhagen supporters. bet365 have started that the odds on a 4-3 win for the home side was priced at an eye-opening 100/1 before the match kicked off.
All odds correct at time of writing.
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