When Cristiano Ronaldo fired home against Young Boys on Tuesday night, after a gloriously inventive pass from Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United should really have gone on to secure a routine Champions League victory.
That they didn’t was as much to do with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tactical ineptitude as Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s reckless red card.
The right-back will surely look back on his challenge with regret, however, by replacing Ronaldo with Jesse Lingard with almost 20 minutes still to play, his manager showed that he’s learned nothing in terms of how to close out a game.
Even taking into account it was a group opener is no excuse.
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Manchester United are a proud footballing institution, but continued reliance on Solskjaer for games at the highest level does them no favours.
The signing of Ronaldo confirms that for all of their faults, the Glazers will continue to back their manager.
A manager that has simply run out of excuses and has to get over the line in one competition this season.