Morgan's Mixed Emotions

Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin had mixed feelings following the Reds' 1-1 draw away to CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League.

The summer signing from Southampton played the entire 90 minutes as Louis van Gaal's men claimed a hard-fought point in the freezing cold of Moscow.

Speaking after the match, Schneiderlin told BT Sport: “It’s a bit of mixed feelings. With the game we wanted to take the three points but in the Champions League it is a marathon, not just about one game.
It is difficult because we wanted to come here to win, but the most important thing was to not leave here without any points.”

After falling behind to a goal from Seydou Doumbia, United stepped up to the challenge and Schneiderlin feels that if the Reds had been more creative, the match could have been won.

“I think in the first half we had the better possession of the ball," the 25-year-old said. "We had good possession, but we could not create many chances. In the second half the movement was a little bit better, but maybe Moscow were a bit more tired.

"We kept the ball, and we made them move a lot which meant we had more chances in the second half. We could have played a bit more direct sometimes, but we know that we can improve because we need to create a bit more.”

Schneiderlin also praised the character shown by his fellow France international Anthony Martial, after the youngster headed in his fifth goal of the season, having earlier given away the penalty which resulted in CSKA taking the lead.

“[Martial’s goal] changed the dynamic of the game," said Schneiderlin. "He didn’t let his head down because that [conceding a penalty] can happen to anyone. Anthony scored a great goal and after that we pushed on but we could not score the second goal which was a shame.”

The draw leaves United second at the halfway stage in Champions League Group B, two points behind leaders VfL Wolfsburg who beat PSV Eindhoven 2-0 in Germany.