Banner that greeted Manchester United turned out to be all too true in Copenhagen

The banner prepared for the Manchester United players in the Parken read 'Your theatre of nightmares', replete with stage curtains. It is possibly curtains for United in the Champions League.

This event-laden loss to Copenhagen leaves United at the foot of Group A with two matches to play. They next travel to the bearpit of Istanbul, trailing Galatasaray by a point, and still have a rematch with Bayern Munich.

In their three European defeats, there have been 19 goals and United have sieved 11 of them. There were goal gluts in each half in Denmark and they came in the United goal.

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As the clock ticked towards the 90th minute, thousands of Copenhagen fans removed their tops and began swirling them around their head. Their pulsating triumph will live longer in the memory than the scrappy 1-0 win against Sir Alex Ferguson's team that they retold before kick-off, parading the 11 starters that night in 2006.

United cannot go one game devoid of drama and this match was teeming with it: an injury, a pitch invader, a medical emergency, a VAR intervention, a red card, a penalty and seven goals.

The banner from the fanatics in the stands was initially motivational for United, just as the 'Play like you mean it!!' bedsheet was at Craven Cottage. This was a more immediate response, with United scoring with 171 seconds on the clock.

Atmospheric crowds have cowed United since the turnstiles reopened for matchgoers after the pandemic. The Parken was billed as "100 times" more intense than Old Trafford by Copenhagen coach Jacob Neestrup. For 42 minutes, Neestrup and Copenhagfen were guilty of believing their own