Bern (AFP)

Always as effective, Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his return to the Champions League with Manchester United, but could not prevent the Red Devils from giving in Tuesday against Bern (2-1), for the first match of the group stage.

Launched by Bruno Fernandes towards his 135th goal in C1, for his 177th appearance in the premier competition, the Portuguese superstar starts off with a bang in the Mancunian jersey, twelve years after his first stint (2003-2009).

The realism of "CR7", already double scorer in the league on Saturday against Newcastle (4-1), was not enough to dominate the restless Young Boys, compact, and in numerical superiority from the expulsion of Wan- Bissaka (35th).

The Swiss champions stuck to the score on a recovery from Ngamaleu (66th), then took the advantage in stoppage time thanks to Siebatcheu (90th + 5), celebrating their return to the Champions League with a superb performance.

Very ambitious after failing two seasons in a row in the group stage, the Mancunians will have to quickly re-mobilize to receive Villareal, who had beaten them at the end of May in the Europa League final, then Atalanta Bergamo.

- Siebatcheu for the KO -

From the outset, Bern had alerted De Gea of ​​a strike from Elia (3rd) and easily cut the Mancunian transmissions, made less fluid by the synthetic pitch of the Wankdorf Stadion.

But Bruno Fernandes, served on the left side, curled from the outside of the foot towards Ronaldo in the area: from his first opportunity, the five-time Ballon d'Or slipped the ball between the legs of Von Ballmoos (0-1, 13th).

The opening of the scoring gave air to the men of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who failed to double the bet by Fred, with a shot above the skylight (19th), then by a new shot on target from Ronaldo ( 22nd).

Jordy Siebatcheu (right) has just offered the victory to the Young Boys over the great Manchester United in Bern, September 14, 2021 SEBASTIEN BOZON AFP

But with a tense shot, Fassnacht forced De Gea to dive, before Aebischer tried his luck, then the liveliness of the Bernese pushed Wan-Bissaka, late, to intervene sole forward on Pereira's ankle: cardboard red (35th).

Long awkward in the last move, the Young Boys took control of the game by stifling Mancunian attempts, even if Ronaldo claimed a penalty (54th) then collapsed in the central circle (58th).

Very leggy, Elia ended up finding the fault by overflowing to the right: his cross went between Shaw's legs and found Moumi Ngamaleu, who was ahead of Varane with his right foot to send the ball into De Gea's small net (1-1 , 66th).

And if Lauper only missed the KO thanks to a tap from the Spanish goalkeeper under his crossbar (88th), Jordan Siebatcheu took advantage of a Lingard error to crucify De Gea from the inside of the right foot, making the Wankdorf exult in a few seconds of the final whistle (2-1, 90th + 5).

© 2021 AFP