MANCHESTER: Manchester United crashed to a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday as Ruben Amorim lost for the fourth time in his nine games in charge of the troubled Old Trafford club.
It was a second successive flop for Amorim’s side following their 4-3 League Cup quarter-final exit at Tottenham on Thursday.
Bournemouth took a first-half lead through Dean Huijsen before Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo netted after the interval to complete a dismal afternoon for Amorim, who replaced the sacked Erik ten Hag in November.
A year after securing their first ever victory at Old Trafford, Andoni Iraola’s Cherries triumphed by the same scoreline as they inflicted the biggest blow of Amorim’s short reign.
Huijsen became the latest player to capitalize on United’s woeful set-piece defending, before a Kluivert penalty and a Semenyo strike sealed a stunning win that brought boos from the home fans at full-time.
The result leaves United marooned in 13th over Christmas and marked an alarming fall from grace after last Sunday’s 2-1 derby win at Manchester City.
Amorim had always warned there would be bumps in the road but this fourth defeat in his ninth match in charge further underlined the issues at hand.
Marcus Rashford’s absence from a third consecutive matchday squad had dominated the pre-match discussion as Amorim made six changes.
United offered little attacking threat without Rashford and their glaring deficiences at the back were ruthlessly exploited by a Bournemouth side who are now up to fifth place.
Tyrell Malacia was furious to be adjudged to have fouled Adam Smith and Huijsen easily beat Joshua Zirkee to head home the resulting free-kick from Ryan Christie in the 29th minute.
Amorim brought on Leny Yoro for Malacia at half-time and soon made two further changes, with Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho replacing Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte.
The changes made no difference and Noussair Mazraoui conceded a careless penalty when he brought down Kluivert in the 61st minute.
The Netherlands international stepped up to send Andre Onana the wrong way as he stroked home from the spot.
United’s capitulation was complete two minutes later.
Kobbie Mainoo’s pass was cut out and Bournemouth broke as Evanilson slipped in Dango Ouattara, whose cutback was driven home by Semenyo.
Jubilant Bournemouth fans chanted “Man United, it’s happened again” in reference to last year’s victory, while the dejected home supporters flooded toward the exits.
Troubled Manchester United humiliated by Bournemouth
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Troubled Manchester United humiliated by Bournemouth
- Second successive flop for Amorim’s side following 4-3 League Cup quarterfinal exit at Tottenham
- Bournemouth win came a year after securing first ever victory at Old Trafford
Djokovic reaches Australian Open semis as Musetti retires
- Serb continues his quest for a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and standalone 25th Grand Slam crown
- Task gets tougher for Djokovic with a clash against either defending champion Jannik Sinner or Ben Shelton
MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic continued his quest for a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and standalone 25th Grand Slam crown, but only after a cruel twist of fate for Lorenzo Musetti, who quit their quarter-final with an injury on Wednesday while leading.
While the stars seemed to align for the 38-year-old Serb in his hunt for more glory at the majors, Iga Swiatek’s bid to seal a career Grand Slam — capturing all four of the sport’s biggest titles — went up in smoke following a defeat by Elena Rybakina.
There were several swings in momentum for Jessica Pegula, who deservedly reached the Melbourne Park semifinals for the first time after dashing fellow American Amanda Anisimova’s hopes of reaching three straight major finals.
The drama in the day session was reserved for the afternoon match where Djokovic arrived fresh for battle with Musetti after getting a walkover on Sunday from Czech youngster Jakub Mensik, which scuttled their fourth-round meeting.
The Serb made a fast start but it was all one-way traffic as the artistic Musetti showed his full range of strokes and bagged the opening two sets, before the Italian pulled up holding the upper part of his right leg at the start of the third.
Musetti looked to soldier on after receiving treatment, but lasted only one more game and he threw in the towel leading 6-4 6-3 1-3 as stunned fans at the Rod Laver Arena let out a gasp and Djokovic quietly heaved a sigh of relief.
“I don’t know what to say, except that I feel really sorry for him and he was a far better player,” Djokovic said.
“I was on my way home. These things happen in sport and it’s happened to me a few times, but being in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, two sets to love up and being in full control, I mean it’s so unfortunate.”
Musetti said he was pained by having to retire after taking a big lead against the experienced Djokovic, adding the trouble in his leg first began in the second set.
“I felt there was something strange,” he added.
“I continued to play, because I was playing really well, but I was feeling that the pain was increasing, and the problem was not going away.
“In the end, when I took the medical timeout ... and started to play again, I felt it even more and it was getting higher and higher, the level of the pain.”
Tough test
Though he eclipsed Roger Federer with his 103rd match win at Melbourne Park, the task will only get tougher for Djokovic with a clash against either defending champion Jannik Sinner or young American Ben Shelton in the last-four.
As one fifth seed crashed, another gained flight as Elena Rybakina booked her place in the semifinals with a dominant 7-5 6-1 win over six-times Grand Slam champion Swiatek.
Swiatek was left to rue the defeat and the lack of privacy in difficult moments off the court where players cannot escape cameras, a day after Coco Gauff’s racket-smashing meltdown in response to her crushing defeat by Elina Svitolina.
“The question is, are we tennis players or are we animals in the zoo, where they are observed even when they poop?” she said.
“That was exaggerating obviously, but it would be nice to have privacy. It would be nice also to have your own process and not always be observed.”
All eyes were on sixth seed Pegula later as she stayed on course for her maiden Grand Slam trophy by going past Anisimova 6-2 7-6(1), sparkling despite some testing moments toward the end of the clash.
“I’m really happy with my performance,” Pegula said.
“From start to finish there was a lot of momentum swings, but I thought I came out playing really well, came out serving really well, and was able to just hold on there in the second and get that break back and take it in two.
“I showed good mental resilience there at the end not to get frustrated.”
