Schmeichel singles out De Ligt and Mazraoui after United's humiliating 4-1 collapse at Como

Manchester United suffered a second successive Champions League defeat on Wednesday, losing 4-1 to Como at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium in northern Italy, with manager Michael Carrick walking directly to the away end after the final whistle in an apparent gesture of apology to travelling supporters.

Carrick’s side were 3-0 down before the hour mark and were largely outplayed throughout. Substitute Joshua Zirkzee grabbed a late consolation, but the result did little to mask the scale of the performance. Around 600 of the 700 travelling supporters had already left their seats before the final whistle.

“It was more than disappointing,” Carrick said afterwards. “I think everybody has got to take responsibility for that. I 100 per cent take responsibility for the overall team and the performance. That’s where it stops — it stops with me and I’m absolutely fine with that. I accept that totally.”

Former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel directed his sharpest criticism at centre-back Matthijs de Ligt and right-back Noussair Mazraoui. De Ligt was making his return to the starting line-up after almost a year out through injury, having only recently appeared on the bench in a domestic fixture against Leeds.

“We line up in the Champions League with De Ligt at centre-half,” Schmeichel said. “He hasn’t played a minute since November last season. He’s on the bench against Leeds for the first time — I don’t know how much he’s trained. And it shows.”

Schmeichel was equally critical of Mazraoui, who was moved from left-back to right-back during the match. “You’ve got Mazraoui there who played left-back to begin with. Obviously something wasn’t working, so they put him out at right-back, and I heard Michael correctly point him out on the second goal — his positioning, all of that, is simply not good enough.”

Beyond the individual errors, Schmeichel expressed broader frustration at the squad’s mentality, suggesting the players appeared overwhelmed by the occasion. “I’m thinking back four years from where we were,” he added, reflecting on how quickly the club’s standards have deteriorated.

Carrick notably walked past his players without acknowledging them before heading down the tunnel, a moment that underlined the tension surrounding the club following back-to-back European defeats.