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RED DEVILS DESTROYER . . . Olympiacos midfielder Joel Campbell celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal against Manchester United during their round of 16 Champions League match at Karaiskaki Stadium in Athens on Tuesday night. — AFP

PIRAEUS. — Olympiacos. Not Bayern Munich or Barcelona. Olympiacos. Not master coach Pep Guardiola. Michel. Not Lionel Messi. Alejandro Dominguez.
And not down to 10 men either. Unlike Arsenal and Manchester City last week, Manchester United had their full complement on the field. It just didn’t look like it.

They contrived to lose 2-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night, not to giants, but to one of the also-rans of the competition. Olympiacos are not potential winners.

Chances are they will be removed in the quarter-finals by the first good team they play, if they manage to survive the return leg at Old Trafford. The odds must favour them now.

United pulled the plum tie out of the Champions League draw — and then choked on it.
This may well be the worst performance of David Moyes’s brief time as United manager, the one that really will cause questions to be asked about his suitability.

There are some contenders, obviously. Yet United looked so ordinary, so lifeless, so devoid of ambition and desire against the Greek champions that there may well soon be a tipping point.

“Can they score? They always score.” Those were the words that summed up the old United. Here they did not even manage a shot on target, let alone a goal.

Until now, the performances in Europe have been the saving grace for Moyes. Emphatic against Bayer Leverkusen, gutsy in Donetsk.
This, however, was the kind of display that gets a manager the sack — one that brings into dispute matters of selection, direction and inspiration.

Until Tuesday night, Manchester United were the only team in the tournament who had not trailed in any match. Hard to believe on this evidence.

The defensive reaction for both goals revealed a lethargy that would have mystified heroes past. Maybe television analyst Roy Keane should have delivered the half-time team talk. Or played.

This was a United seldom seen. Timid, inadequate, uninspired. They were not unfortunate or hard done by.
There were no excuses left by the end. Moyes picked what he considered a team to get a result and watched lamely as it was undone by supposed inferiors.

The goals came from Dominguez, an Argentine without a senior cap to his name, and Joel Campbell, an Arsenal loanee whom Arsene Wenger has shown scant inclination to take back.

Yet they deserved it. United will no doubt make a trademark heroic effort to reclaim the tie at Old Trafford — but do they have it in them any more? Not on this showing. Under the pressure of knock-out competition, they seem to have forgotten how to win.

Players on whom Moyes gambles his reputation — Tom Cleverley, Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling — were ordinary. Rocks of old are now crumbling relics.

Wayne Rooney spent more time slapping the pitch in frustration than he did near goal. Robin van Persie took a heavy hit from goalkeeper Roberto in the first half but it failed to wake him.

When Smalling crossed from the right with nine minutes remaining, the striker ballooned an excellent chance over the bar. Here was everything that has been wrong with United this season, encapsulated as if in a highlights reel.

The goals told the story. For the first, United failed to close Olympiacos down and were punished with a shot from Giannis Maniatis that could have been stopped by any team with enough will.

Instead it travelled low into the penalty area where Dominguez diverted it deliberately with a back heel. A touch of the Denis Laws, although United are not facing relegation. Just elimination. With perhaps a sprinkling of humiliation.

A second-half revival? Not these days. Instead, Michael Carrick went meekly into a tackle that should have cleaned out his opponent, and Campbell came through with the ball, keeping his balance and curling a fine shot round Rio Ferdinand with David de Gea stranded.

There were similar instances of weakness all over the field. Sloppiness has crept into United’s play that — whisper it — Sir Alex Ferguson would never have tolerated. — Mailonline.