Yellow carded Luke Shaw was the schmuck on Thursday. Deep in extra time, the defender caused the penalty that cost Manchester United a point.
After more than three minutes, both teams had already had a huge chance: first Antony shot eye to eye with Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele wide and then Kaoru Mitoma failed to punish Victor Lindelöf’s bumbling. Mitoma shot at David de Gea, who got the ball in his face and needed some injury treatment after this save.
The thunderous opening phase turned out to be a harbinger of an attractive first half, with danger on both sides. The best chances were for United, but Antony, Casemiro, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial failed to score. Brighton, who missed Joël Veltman due to an injury, became especially dangerous with shots from a distance. In the second half, the home team shifted up a gear and it became increasingly difficult for United, although Brighton (which has been showered with compliments lately) failed to take great chances.
After Antony escaped a red card, and was substituted by Ten Hag moments later, the game seemed to be heading for a goalless draw. Deep into stoppage time, however, Brighton were awarded a penalty after VAR found Shaw had made hands in a header after a corner kick. Mac Allister was allowed to build and left De Gea without a chance: 1-0.
Guilt-conscious Shaw can’t explain his “stupid mistake.”
“It hurts like hell,” Shaw said at Sky Sports after the 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion. “I’m not looking for excuses. I can’t explain why my hand was there. It was a stupid mistake.”
A point would have been welcome in the battle for a Champions League ticket. But the defender knows there is no man overboard. “Nothing has changed, a place in the top four is still in our own hands. But now you can say that there is a real chase going on. The teams around us are now picking up points,” said Shaw. “The problem is that we didn’t score. Then it comes down to my mistake, but with the chances we had, we should have scored.”
Ten Hag refused to let Shaw down. “Luke played a fantastic game. The free kick that led to the corner was never a foul,” the Dutch manager pointed to the reason for the offending moment.
