Telles and Dalot’s contrasting fortunes in Man Utd “nightmare” vs Villarreal

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United bounced back from two defeats in a row with a 2-1 e win against Villarreal in the Champions League on Wednesday at Old Trafford

Manchester United defensive duo Alex Telles and Diogo Dalot enjoyed contrasting fortunes in Wednesday’s 2-1 Champions League group stage win over Villarreal.

The pair both enjoyed rare starts for United, with Telles filling in for the injured Luke Shaw, while Dalot replaced the suspended Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

And it was Telles who took his chance to impress when he scored his first goal for the club with a thunderous volley from outside the area to level the game after Paco Alcacer initially put the visitors in front.

Then in the fifth minute of injury time, Cristiano Ronaldo was waiting in the box to fire the ball home from Jesse Lingard’s lay-off to send the United faithful into raptures at Old Trafford.

The result means United are third in Group F – level on points with second-placed Young Boys – while Atalanta lead the way with four and Villarreal are bottom with one.

Meanwhile, Dalot had a night to forget and was terrorised by former Bournemouth winger Arnaut Danjuma all-game long.

The Portuguese full back was also at fault for the visitor’s goal when he failed to track the run of Danjuma, who glided past him with ease, before picking out the waiting Alcacer.

And former United and Liverpool striker Michael Owen said the Portuguese full-back was enduring a “nightmare” during the game.

“Wow Villarreal have been really good down particularly good down this left side, Dalot has had a bit of nightmare, not sure how he’s going to work this one out Danjuma has been electrifying in parts. It’s just wave after wave,” said Owen.

Although Telles’ night was far from perfect, the 28-year-old came to the rescue when he provided a vital block to deny Boulaye Dia from putting Villarreal back in front in the closing stages of the contest.

Telles missed the start of the campaign after picking up an injury in pre-season, but will now be hoping he can put a consistent run of performances together.

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The former Porto left-back took to social media after the game to explain his feelings on Twitter.

His post read: “Wow. Still trying to find words to express my feelings… My first goal for United, inside a packed Old Trafford, and an incredible victory on a Champions League night. This is football: working and believing until the end. Thank you all for your support @ManUtd.”

Telles’ team-mate Bruno Fernandes spoke after the game and explained what he told the defender before he scored his screamer.

“Alex was coming to me and he wanted me to do the overlap and if there was a chance, he would pass it to me in the box,” Fernandes told the club’s official website.

“I tell him, ‘No, just go to the edge of the box and I will ping the ball over there and you just kick it first time or if you have time, control it.’

“But after that, it’s all the quality of Alex.

“Nothing to do with me. Okay the ball was good, the ball went straight to Alex but Alex made a really good strike and it was an unbelievable goal, honestly.”

United will now switch their focus back to the Premier League when they welcome Everton to Old Trafford in the early kick-off on Saturday.