Manchester United's season went from bad to worse last night as the Red Devils fell to a devastating 4-3 defeat against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League, leaving Erik ten Hag's side rock bottom of the group and with a mountain to climb to qualify for the next round of the competition.
The English giants were cruising at one point, leading 2-0 in the game and were pushing for more before a contentious red card for Marcus Rashford in the first half turned the tie on its head. While it's always difficult to play with one less man, Ten Hag will be less than pleased with some of his team's defending inside the penalty area.
However, there was one player in particular who had an off-night and was one of the primary instigators of Man United's collapse in the Danish capital.
Man United's game in numbers
While the result will be severely disappointing for the players, coaches and fans, United's performance at the top end of the pitch was one of the best this season.
The three-time champions of Europe registered an xG of 3.02 on the night and scored three goals while Copenhagen mustered an xG of 2.25 but put four past goalkeeper Andre Onana. Statistically, the game could have easily finished level-pegging.
Unsurprisingly, it was in the second half where the game turned on its head from a data viewpoint. The home side had a higher xG after the interval with 1.18 to United's 0.97, although 0.79 of the visitors' xG was from the penalty spot, according to FotMob.
Onana will be disappointed with his performance too, having conceded a non-penalty xG of 1.46 against Copenhagen from 15 non-penalty shots, with the Cameroon international making merely four saves.
What was more worrying for the Red Devils was that the side lost the ball 43 times in their own half, with 22 coming in the second half as the defenders scrambled to clear their lines following wave after wave of Danish pressure, as per Opta.
Furthermore, United managed just 8.5% of their total ball recoveries in the opposition's half of the field compared to Copenhagen's 24.4%, showing how intense their opponent's pressing was, particularly after Rashford was given his marching orders.
Raphael Varane's game in numbers
In what was a peculiar first half of stoppages, Man United were dealt yet another injury blow as summer returnee Johnny Evans had to be taken off after just a quarter of an hour.
His replacement wasn't a bad one, with four-time Champions League winner Raphael Varane stepping into the fray. Ten Hag had previously left the former world champion out of the Manchester derby a fortnight ago for "tactical reasons", with Evans being given the nod instead in what was quite a controversial decision at the time.
Minutes Played
74
Clearances
3
Interceptions
1
Tackles
2
Duels Won
5/6
Possession Lost
11x
Accurate Passes
42/52 (81%)
Long Balls
1/5
Stats via Sofascore.
However, Varane certainly didn't do himself any justice at the Parken Stadium and played a massive part in Copenhagen's winning goal after failing to control a relatively comfortable square pass from Harry Maguire and ceding possession in his own third.
After the game, journalist Alex Turk claimed that the Frenchman was "so far off it", while club legend Paul Scholes admitted that Varane "did not fancy it" when referring to the pass from Maguire before the hosts' winner. Meanwhile, the Manchester Evening News alleged that the ex-Real Madrid man put in a 4/10 display. Damning indeed.
During the game, Varane lost possession of the ball 11 times from 62 touches, while totalling a passing accuracy of just 81% which is quite low for a centre-back. One of the reasons for the £340k-per-week star's low passing accuracy was that he attempted five long balls over the top, completing only one, according to Sofascore.
In addition, Varane made just one interception, completed one tackle and blocked merely one shot amid an abundance of Copenhagen attacks.
Given the standards he has set throughout his career, this defeat was a night to forget for Varane, who may have justified Ten Hag's questionable decision to start Evans over him in the derby two weeks ago.