Manchester United were beaten 4-1 by Como in the Champions League on Wednesday 21 October 2026, and the defeat was followed by a public disagreement between captain Bruno Fernandes and manager Michael Carrick. The match was played at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium. Fernandes criticised the pressing plan set by the coaching staff, while Carrick responded by questioning the effort shown by his players on the night.
Paz opened the scoring with a curling finish from the edge of the box, and United conceded inside two minutes. Anastasios Douvikas, Paz again and Jacobo Ramón added goals after the break to put Como in complete control. Joshua Zirkzee scored a consolation for United in stoppage time. Fernandes was substituted after 67 minutes, with the contest already slipping away from the visitors.
Speaking after the match, Fernandes was asked about United's lack of cohesion out of possession. He defended his team-mates and placed responsibility on the manager and coaches. "It was a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave space behind," he said. He added: "That's on the manager and on the staff to see it, it's not on me."
Carrick answered by pointing to the second half. "We actually were half-pressed man-to-man in the second half and then conceded a goal from that," he said. The United coach also admitted his anger, saying: "I'm really angry, to be honest." He accepted his own part too, saying: "I 100% take responsibility for the overall team and the performance." Asked whether he feared the sack, he said he had not given his own position any thought.
It was United's fifth defeat in 11 games this season and extended their winless run to seven games across all competitions. It was also only the sixth time United have lost a Champions League match by three or more goals, and the first since April 2019, when they went down to Barcelona in the quarterfinals. At full time, Carrick held up his hands in apology to the travelling supporters.
The row follows another controversy a week earlier. After United's 2-0 loss at Atlético Madrid, defender Lisandro Martinez publicly criticised the club hierarchy and called out technical director Jason Wilcox over failings in the transfer window. A meeting between Carrick, Martinez and Wilcox later repaired relations, but the latest dispute has again put the United dressing room under scrutiny.
Carrick, 45, signed a two-year contract in May after leading United to third place in the Premier League. That agreement was reached only months before the current run of poor results, which has left the manager facing questions over the state of his squad after two public disputes involving senior players in the space of a week.
