Schmeichel: Tielemans 'changed the game' in United's Roma comeback

Peter Schmeichel has praised Manchester United summer signing Youri Tielemans for ‘changing the game’ in the Champions League comeback win over Roma.

United’s worst start to a season since the 1980s looked set to take another blow as Roma stormed into a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford. Matias Soule took advantage of an alarming amount of room near the United box to put the Italians ahead inside 12 minutes.

Manchester United looked on course for a fourth straight defeat when Donyell Malen doubled Rome’s lead from the penalty spot after Ayden Heaven blocked a shot with his arm.

A second-half turnaround

The home side were booed off at half-time but improved after the break and got a lifeline when Bruno Fernandes scored just before the hour mark from a retaken penalty.

United were still heading for another defeat until Matheus Cunha scored twice late on to complete a memorable European comeback.

Schmeichel says he felt ‘so sad’ at half-time but believes the game changed upon the introduction of Tielemans. The Belgian midfielder replaced the injured Carlos Baleba shortly after half-time and proceeded to ‘change the game’, according to Schmeichel.

Schmeichel and son Kasper praise Tielemans

‘It’s about time we did something like this,’ Schmeichel told CBS Sports. ‘Manchester United did that type of thing time and time again in the past but it’s been so long.

‘At half-time I was so sad about what I had seen in that first 45 minutes because it was bad, it was bad. And then Carlos Baleba goes off injured early in the second half and you’re thinking, this can’t get any worse.

‘But Youri Tielemans came on and he changed the game. That’s the best I’ve seen him play for Man United and I’m so pleased for him.

‘He came into that midfield and he drove the team forward and he was a leader, it was brilliant to see.

‘That for me can be a big turning point. Those players have now felt what it feels like to be a Manchester United player and play in these big European nights.

‘Coming back from 2-0 down, this is what United have been doing for years. I’m so, so happy for Michael Carrick because he needed this win.’

Schmeichel’s son Kasper, the former Leicester City goalkeeper, also singled out Tielemans for praise after the remarkable comeback at Old Trafford.

‘I said at half-time if you’re going to go down, go down fighting,’ he told BBC Radio 5 Live. ‘You can accept losing if you’ve given absolutely everything and they didn’t do that in the first half.

‘But they did in the second half. The tone was set with Carlos Baleba. It was so unfortunate he got an injury for it but that was a spark.

‘Youri Tielemans came on and that changed the game a little bit. There was a little bit more control.

‘When you’re playing in these games and you’re two down, you’re already done, so you may as well go and give it everything you’ve got. You may as well run around.

‘That should be the standard and now the great thing about it for Michael Carrick is now he has something to refer to.

‘Anytime there’s a difficult situation or pre-match team talk, it’s going to be look what you do when you apply yourselves in that manner then you are impossible to live with.’