Manchester United are knocked OUT of the Women’s Champions League after losing 3-1 to PSG

Manchester United have been knocked out of the Women’s Champions league after losing 3-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in the second round of qualifying.

After waiting so long for Champions League football, United’s journey is over before it really had a chance to begin.

Lieke Martens opened the scoring on the night for PSG in the 17th minute with a wonderful curling effort past Mary Earps.

United had a huge chance to equalize just before the half-time whistle when Geyse played Ella Toone through on goal, but the forward could only slice a shot wide.

Lisa Naalsund then evened things in the 47th minute after Geyse worked an opening on the right-hand side.

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Man United’s Ella Toone missed a golden opportunity to equalize just before half-time

PSG’s Lieke Martens scores two goals to send United crashing out of the competition

However, just one minute later Martens scored another goal for the Parisian side before Sandy Baltimore made the score 3-1 with a remarkable dinked effort over Earps in the 57th minute.

United had the ball in the back of the net again in the 71st minute when Galton put a lofted pass to flick a header over a helpless Kiedrzynek.

But referee Ivana Projkovska believed she had seen a foul on the PSG goalkeeper and awarded a free-kick, much to the dismay of the United bench.

Replays showed Galton had got to the ball before Kiedrzynek and had not made contact with his opponent. United’s bench were furious and they had every right to be. Toone then hit the bar in the closing stages but, by then, the game was done.

Prior to this evening, United were the only English club who could still join Chelsea in the group stages with Arsenal having gone out in the first qualifying round.

With the Manchester side losing 3-1 on the night, it meant the aggregate score was 4-2 to PSG after the sides drew 1-1 in the first leg.

United will feel hard done by in more ways than one. This was an extremely difficult tie against the former French champions Paris Saint-Germain, which manager Marc Skinner believed could have been a quarter-final.

Across the two legs United did not take their chances. Their opponents did and, at this level, that is the difference.

United join Arsenal and Wolfsburg, who both reached last year’s semi-final, as the big clubs who will not take part in the group stage this season.

Leah Galton (left) and Paris Saint-Germain’s Jade Le Guilly battle for the ball during the match

Skinner had spoken before the game about the qualifying format and how too many big teams would fall victim to early eliminations.

The structure sees teams who won their domestic leagues allocated to the ‘champions path’ while those finished in lower positions are placed in the ‘league path’. This meant there were some incredibly one-sided ties, with Czech champions Slavia Praha beating Romanian champions Olimpia Cluj 11-0 on aggregate.

It does not make sense and Skinner’s frustration is understandable. But every club knew the situation before qualifying took place.

Arsenal knew finishing third would give them less turnaround time between the end of the World Cup and their first Champions League fixture. Both teams still had chances to win their respective matches.