Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has been left red-faced after he aimed a brutal dig at Mauro Icardi ahead of Galatasaray’s sensational comeback win at Old Trafford.
Rasmus Hojlund fired United into the lead on Tuesday evening inside 20 minutes with a stunning bullet header, only for Wilfried Zaha to cancel out his opener six minutes later.
The United striker then restored his side’s advantage in the second half, but Galatasaray responded in swift fashion four minutes later through Muhammed Kerem Akturkoglu.
Casemiro was sent off late in the second half after a challenge on Dries Mertens inside the United box, which allowed Icardi to step up for an important penalty.
Icardi missed the spot-kick against United, but the Galatasaray striker would redeem himself minutes later by scoring a stunning winner for the Turkish side.
The 30-year-old Argentine latched on to a clearing header from Davinson Sanchez before effortlessly chipping United No 1 Andre Onana in a one-on-one battle.
READ MORE: Manchester United’s four worst players in 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray
Fans’ reaction to Scholes’ Icardi dig
Speaking ahead of the Champions League clash, Scholes pulled no punches towards former Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain star Icardi.
“He’s [Icardi] not a very good footballer,” he said on TNT Sports (via UtdDistrict).
Scholes was left with serious egg on his face after Icardi’s winner against United, with one fan saying that the TNT Sports pundit was served “humble Turkish pie.”
“Paul Scholes saying Icardi is not a very good footballer before the game [only] for him to then score the winner is peak banter,” one fan wrote.
Someone else added: “Paul Scholes sounds like he’s crying after all the rubbish he said about Icardi.”
A third simply said: “I wanna see Paul Scholes’ reaction to that Icardi goal.”
“Icardi serving Paul Scholes humble Turkish pie,” another fan added.
While one X, AKA Twitter, user posted: “You knew as soon as Scholes said Icardi wasn’t a player he was scoring.”
And a sixth commented: “I knew it was gonna backfire on us when Scholes said Icardi is [bad].”
Another tweeted: “What did Scholes say about Icardi? LOL.”
A night to forget for United
United’s return to the Champions League under manager Erik ten Hag has been as disappointing as the rest of the Red Devils’ season so far.
Ten Hag’s men have slipped to back-to-back Champions League defeats, having previously suffered a 4-3 loss to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
United are now bottom of Group A after the Galatasaray defeat and face a massive uphill battle to secure a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Bayern are currently top of Group A with six points, while Galatasaray are second with four points and FC Copenhagen are third with one point.
United’s Champions League campaign will resume on 28th October when they host FC Copenhagen in what is an important must-win match at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag simply cannot afford any more slipups in the Champions League, and Scholes’ comment on Icardi shows why United can’t be complacent going forward.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
