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22 hours ago
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Mary Earps received the boos she feared on her return to Manchester United 501 days after leaving, and departed defeated, as Marc Skinner’s team cuffed aside Paris Saint-Germain courtesy of Fridolina Rolfö’s expert second-half header.
When jogging out for the warm-up Earps was cheered but as soon as the crowd swelled for kick-off she was targeted throughout, though for a footballer whose CV shows nine clubs, 52 England caps, and a Euro 2022 winner’s medal, this felt water off the proverbial for her.
Skinner should be enthused by how his team soaked up PSG pressure at the start of each half, took the lead through Melvine Malard, then responded to Olga Carmona’s equaliser. However, Earps could do nothing about Rolfö’s winner.
With her first clearance Earps saw her team move downfield and have Jennifer Echegini smash a 25-yard effort off Safia Middleton-Patel’s left post, United’s stand-in goalkeeper a flailing spectator only.
The Queen of Stops had become the queen of the agenda, after her incendiary remarks about Hannah Hampton being installed as England’s No 1 for the summer’s Euros. Earps claimed in her book, All In, that Sarina Wiegman had thereby rewarded the Chelsea goalkeeper’s previous “bad behaviour” with England.
PSG’s start was the antithesis of their dire European form – they have lost their first two matches – as Echegini’s near-miss was followed by knitted play that twice put Rasheedat Ajibade in along the No 10’s right flank. Perhaps the manager Paulo César was targeting that flank.
The jeers for Earps became muted and you wondered if they were fuelled by pro-Hampton sympathisers or United partisans chagrined at Earps having the temerity to leave in the summer of 2024.
United made their bow in European club competition at the club’s storied home having lost 1-0 at Aston Villa on Saturday in the Women’s Super League but with a perfect six points in this competition from beating Atlético Madrid and Vålerenga.
Skinner’s five changes from the Villa loss included dropping Ella Toone, who may have been nursing a knock, and the top scorer, Elisabeth Terland, to the bench, while injury meant Phallon Tullis-Joyce, United’s first-choice goalkeeper, was not in the matchday squad.
There was space for each team to use, as Rolfö did along the left before twisting inside and feeding Simi Awujo. She burst into the area and may have been scythed down illegally, before Jess Park’s shot was eventually blocked.
A punch-out of a steepling Jayde Riviere ball was Earps’ first act; it came just before the half-hour, an indicator of the mundane fare the crowd of about 15,000 consumed.
But soon Earps was beaten. Riviere’s sweeping ball along the right-back’s wing was taken on by Melvine Malard. The No 9 bundled aside Griedge Mbock Bathy and zigzagged for goal; the shot flew past Earps – whose dive seemed low – and into the far left corner.
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This boosted the home fans and their next round of boos aimed at Earps were enthusiastic, though it felt more pantomime stuff than vindictive. More potent was the Ajibade corkscrewed cross that had Middleton-Patel scrambling to jab on to her bar, before a 20-yard Olga Carmona arrow smacked the top-left corner of the net to give PSG a mental edge at the break.
They came centimetres from the lead too, moments after the second-half whistle, as Anaïs Ebayilin’s effort mirrored the start of the match: again it hit the left post but this time Middleton-Patel pushed the ball there.
Carmona’s next contribution was to bounce a 40-yard pass in front of Echeguni whose run was foiled by United’s alert goalkeeper.
Far simpler was Earps clutching an insipid Anna Sandberg free-kick that United’s left-back floated straight into the gloves and far better was what Sandberg did next. Slick Park footwork was followed by the midfielder feeding Sandberg whose cross from the left was pinpoint for Rolfö: the Swede’s header gave Earps no chance.
Advantage United who, moments later, had Malard running in from the right, shooting and drawing a fine save from the former United keeper, low to her left.
Skinner introduced Toone, Terland and Leah Galton for a final phase in which United, again, resisted PSG: a job well done for those in red, making it a losing return for the woman of the moment – Earps.
