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| Manchester United lose Champions League decider against Wolfsburg |
SO, Thursday night football it is. But for Manchester United, one of Europe’s great clubs, it could so easily have been different.
After a rollercoaster Group B match, in which United’s dreams of remaining in Europe’s elite club competition remained alive until the tense final minutes, Louis van Gaal’s team crashed out to resilient Wolfsburg.
After going into an early lead in the nail-biter, United succumbed to two goals and they looked dead and buried, only to battle their way back and force a Josuha Guilavogui own-goal.
At that stage, it seemed United were through – but their hopes of progressing were shattered two minutes later when Naldo headed in for his second goal – and the winner – six minutes from time.
Had it remained a draw, United would have gone through at that point but PSV Eindhoven went on to beat CSKA, having been 1-0 behind.
In a season where his team’s style has been criticised for being boring, this was full of excitement, goals and incident – and yet, having started the night in second place, they bombed out of a tournament they have won three times.
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| Matteo Darmian went off before half-time, adding injury to insult on a desperate night |
The last few weeks have largely been ones to forget for United, and desperate times call for desperate measures so Louis Van Gaal put his neck on the block before kick-off by handing a full debut to Guillermo Varela.
The Uruguayan defender slotted in at right back ahead of England international Ashley Young for only his second United appearance.
It was a brave call by Van Gaal considering what was at stake and the fact the inexperienced Varela spent last season playing under Zinedine Zidane for Real Madrid’s reserves.
It was a sign of how stretched Van Gaal’s resources were after seeing injuries deplete his squad and one glance at the bench hardly filled travelling fans with confidence.
It included novices Paddy McNair and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, while forgotten man Nick Powell took his place among the substitutes for the first time since being part of the United team humiliated by MK Dons in the Capital One Cup back in 2014.
The equation was simple for United - Van Gaal’s men needed to win to guarantee their place in the knockout stages and render the result at PSV Eindhoven meaningless.
But to do this United had to find the back of the net, of course, something Van Gaal’s men had found hard to do in recent weeks.
In fact, the last time United scored more than once in Europe, Brendan Rodgers was still Liverpool boss and England were alive and kicking in the Rugby World Cup.
But it was Wolfsburg who should have scored first after ripping the United defence to shreds within three minutes.
Maximilian Arnold rose the highest to meet a hopeful ball forward and flick it on to Andre Schurrle in acres of space, but all the ex-Chelsea star could do was blaze high over the top with just David De Gea to beat.
It proved a costly miss when Martial fired United ahead from Juan Mata’s sublime pass just seven minutes later to give the visitors the perfect start.
Now was the time for some of that boring and containing football the visitors had become famous for.
But their lead didn’t last long - just two minutes to be precise - as Wolfsburg hit straight back to level with a stunning equaliser.
Ricardo Rodriguez floated in a free kick and Naldo met it with an instant volley they flew past a helpless De Gea.
United came close to going ahead again on 27 minutes when Marouane Fellaini’s header from Daley Blind’s corner was clawed out by Benaglio.
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| Assistant Ryan Giggs was furious as the referee eventually ruled out a United strike |
It was a crucial save because Wolfsburg promptly charged to the opposite end and took the lead with a stunning goal that tied United’s defence in knots.
Julian Draxler was the creator, playing a clever one-two with Max Kruse before cutting the ball back for Vieirinha to add the simplest of finishes and leave United with big, big problems.
It took a strong save from De Gea to deny Draxler and somehow keep United in the competition because a third goal for Wolfsburg would surely have been curtains for Van Gaal’s men.
Jesse Lingard thought he had hauled United level on the stroke of half time when he curled in from out on the left.
But the goal was ruled-out for off-side when Juan Mata was given offside while he was stood by the keeper as the ball went in.
Assistant boss Ryan Giggs was fuming on the sidelines after referee Milorad Mazic appeared to have allowed the goal only to change his mind following a conflab with his linesman after protests from the home players.
After the break the game swung from end to end, with De Gea making two outstanding saves and his opposite number Diego Benaglio doing the same to deny Memphis.
An own goal from Josuha Guilavogui with eight minutes left gave United hope. The Wolfsburg player headed past his own goalkeeper after good aerial work from Marouane Fellaini.
But just when they thought their fortunes had improved, Ronaldo Naldo scored minutes later to condemn United to Thursday night football on the Europa League.
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