Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has said André Onana “has to do better” but insisted the goalkeeper was not the only one to blame for his team’s collapse at Galatasaray.
Onana let in Hakim Ziyech free kicks either side of half-time as the Turkish team claimed a 3-3 draw on Wednesday that has left United teetering on the edge of elimination from the Champions League.
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Asked if as captain he needed to talk to Onana, Fernandes said: “He knows how to deal with these moments. He has to do better on the pitch as we all do. We should have done more to have taken a better result. It’s not just because of him that we got this negative result. We all have to take responsibility for what we do, me first.”
United manager Erik ten Hag backed Onana after the game, saying: “It is not about individuals… it is always about the team.”
Fernandes agreed: “We all need to know that we have to improve and that there are things to improve. We are making many mistakes in the Champions League and it’s costing us.”
Only Antwerp have let in more goals, 15, in the Champions League than United (14) this season.
“We’ve conceded a lot of goals up to now,” Fernandes said. “We are probably the team that concedes the most goals. We have to control the game better.”
Fernandes was also disappointed that his team did not kill the game off when they had a chance having led 2-0 and 3-1.
“We have to be more clinical,” he said. “It can’t be that with all the clear opportunities that we had, we didn’t make the most of it and ended up getting a negative result. We should have scored more goals.”
Fernandes said he knows his team’s chances of playing in Europe in the new year are slim.
United are at the bottom of Group A heading into their final pool game, at leaders Bayern Munich on Dec. 12, while third-place Galatasaray visit Copenhagen.
“There is very little we can do but to win our next game against Bayern Munich and hope for a good result in the other game to go through,” Fernandes said.
“Unfortunately, we depend on others. It could have been otherwise had we gotten a win but we weren’t good enough to achieve that.”