Ademola Lookman fired Atletico Madrid to a Champions League win over Manchester United with a 79th-minute goal at the Metropolitano on Tuesday night, while fellow Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen suffered a painful home loss as Galatasaray were beaten by Barcelona in Istanbul.
Lookman’s late finish ensured United became the first English club to be defeated in this season’s tournament and underlined the sharply different evenings experienced by the two Nigerian Champions League attackers.
Atletico were ahead within the opening minute through Pablo Barrios. Alex Baena broke clear of Diogo Dalot after a straightforward ball was played over the United back line, then rolled it across for Barrios, whose effort slipped beneath goalkeeper Ayden Heaven.
Manchester United boss Michael Carrick selected five new starters and his team showed improvement, although they have now failed to win in five matches. Bryan Mbeumo passed up two strong opportunities to equalise before half-time, while Marcus Rashford could not connect with a delivery from Lisandro Martinez.
United skipper Bruno Fernandes went closest in the second half, lofting Youri Tielemans’ pass over Jan Oblak only to see the ball land beyond the target. At the other end, Alejandro Grimaldo struck the post from a free-kick, while Julian Alvarez, handed only his second start of the campaign, could not convert an opening supplied by Barrios.
Any remaining United hopes of rescuing a draw ended when French defender Leny Yoro was dismissed after becoming entangled with substitute Jonathan David while acting as the last defender. Former Everton forward Lookman then found the net to put the result beyond doubt for Atletico.
In Istanbul, Osimhen could not lift Galatasaray against Barcelona. The Turkish Super Lig pace-setters moved in front when Aleksey Batrakov finished Rafael Leao’s pull-back, with the ball taking a touch off Joao Cancelo.
Galatasaray believed they had scored again six minutes later as Baris Alper Yilmaz turned Osimhen’s header beyond Joan Garcia. However, VAR intervened and disallowed the effort for a tight offside call.
Barcelona subsequently seized control of the contest. Cancelo drew them level two minutes before the interval following a deflection involving Dani Olmo. Fermin Lopez headed home a Lamine Yamal cross in the 50th minute, before Anthony Gordon scored his first Champions League goal for the club three minutes later. Substitute Karim Adeyemi completed the scoring with a fourth.
Galatasaray, who lost 3-1 to Sporting CP last month, remain without a victory in the competition this season. Their next fixture is against Lille on 21 October.
