Match report:
Full-time: Club Brugge 0-4 Manchester United (1-7 agg)
Club Brugge mount one last attack down the right. A cross is flung into the area and Castelletto heads wide. Alas, there’s to be no consolation for the bedraggled Belgians this evening. The ball flies off target and the final whistle is blown, which is the cue for Wayne Rooney to collect the match ball after his hat-trick. It’s a job well done from Manchester United and they are back in the Champions League after, er, a lengthy one-year absence. They’ll find out tomorrow who they’ll face in the group stage. Thanks for reading and emailing. Night!
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90 min: It’s not Hernandez’s night. What a little cameo this is from the Mexican. He’s already missed a penalty and now he’s somehow spooned over from three yards out after Young’s drilled cross from the right found him unmarked.
85 min: “I had never noticed the Belgian ‘x’ issue that Rob Beaverstock points out,” says Matt Dony. “Interesting, but it could be even more widespread. Papa Smurf X sounds like an interesting character...”
84 min: Dierckx is down in considerable pain after rolling his ankle near the halfway line. He’s being carried off.
JAVIER HERNANDEZ MISSES THE PENALTY!
82 min: Javier Hernandez fails to press his claim for a starting spot by bringing a touch of farce to proceedings with a ludicrous penalty miss. He slipped as he went up to take it and although Bolat went to the wrong way, Hernandez’s double hit sent the ball wide of the left post. Oh dear. Louis van Gaal is not amused. That wouldn’t even have counted if it had gone in.
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PENALTY TO MANCHESTER UNITED!
81 min: United counter. There is so much space. Hernandez finds Rooney on the right and his cross hits Duarte on the head and bounces down on to his hand. That’s very harsh.
79 min: “Can any of your readers enlighten us to the intriguing Belgian orthographic practice of putting an x and the end of some names, eg Merckx, Dierckx etc,” wonders Rob Beaverstock. “And how should it be pronounced?
78 min: Depay’s free-kick clips the wall and spins out to Darmian on the right. His centre is headed just over by Hernandez. “Probably the 1,069th person to answer the question, but I’m sure it was a mark of respect, of the moving on kind, 40 years after Munich,” says Brad McMillan. “White socks began to be worn in Europe by United in the 1998/99 season.”
77 min: Vormer is booked for a hefty foul from behind on Depay. Dion Cools replaces Boli Bolingoli Mbombo.
74 min: Vormer rattles one over from 20 yards. United are preserving their energy now.
73 min: “It has taken Rooney 37 minutes to become United’s top goalscorer this season, ahead of Memphis (2), Herrara, Janusaz, Fellani and Own Goals (all on 1),” says Jason Jawando. “Can OG rally and score 3 before full time?”
72 min: Everton fought back from 2-0 down at Barnsley - now they trail 3-2!
61' Goal for Barnsley. The hosts go up the other end and Crowley finds the bottom corner. 3-2 #BARvEFC
— Everton (@Everton) August 26, 2015
71 min: “Whipping Club Brugge is one thing but I still think Man U will have a hard time of it in the group stage,” says Mike MacKenzie. Way to harsh everyone’s buzz, Mike.
69 min: “Being that this contest is almost certainly over and tomorrow’s headlines have been written i.e. “UNITED THROUGH TO EUROPE” and “DROUGHT OVER AS ROONEY MAKES IT RAIN IN SPAIN BELGIUM”, my mind begins to wander to other places and I think to myself: why do United wear white socks on European nights (even at Old Trafford)?” wonders Ahmed Aly.
66 min: Club Brugge almost rescue some dignity in stunning fashion, Dierckx smashing an outstanding shot off the underside of the bar from 30 yards! What an effort! The hosts can count themselves desperately unlucky not to have scored tonight.
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65 min: United are showing no mercy towards their stricken opponents. They scorch forward again, the Brugge midfield nowhere to be seen. Depay releases Schweinsteiger, who’s caught in two minds. His chip towards the far post is neither cross nor shot really.
64 min: Javier Hernandez replaces Ander Herrera.
GOAL! Club Brugge 0-4 Manchester United (Herrera, 63 min; Manchester United lead 7-1 on aggregare)
United are indeed filling their boots! Bastian Schweinsteiger is given acres of room in the middle of the Brugge half and he dissects the home defence with an insouciant pass through to Ander Herrera, who slides the ball confidently past Bolat.
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62 min: Juan Mata opens up his body and looks to bend one into the top corner from 20 yards. The ball sails over and that’s Mata’s final contribution. He’s replaced by Ashley Young. Club Brugge bring on Dierckx for Diaby.
60 min: I am contractualy obliged to point out that it’s only Club Brugge but Wayne Rooney scoring a hat-trick tonight can only be a good thing for Manchester United. When he’s in a rut, he looks like he’s capable of never scoring again. However this is the kind of game which could spark him into one of those remorseless goalscoring runs.
58 min: Wayne Rooney is back in crisis. Mata sets him up again. Rooney races clear but the overworked Bolat reads his dink and manages to divert it wide.
GOAL! Club Brugge 0-3 Manchester United (Rooney, 57 min; Manchester United lead 6-1 on aggregate)
We are seeing evidence that Wayne Rooney would tear up the Belgian league. He has his hat-trick, his eighth in Manchester United colours. Brugge have totally gone. They’re mentally shot. Mata is allowed to saunter inside from the right unchallenged and prod a pass through to Rooney, who’s timed his run well. Rooney isn’t about to miss. He slips it calmly underneath the advancing Bolat.
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54 min: United could fill their boots here. They stream forward again down the right. Mata dashes clear and attempts to find Depay with a pass from right to left. Depay is totally unmarked, but the pass just bounces out of reach.
53 min: United are beginning to turn on the style. Brugge are chopped apart by a flowing move through the middle again, Rooney and Depay combining to devastating effect. A gorgeous dummy allows Depay to burst towards the area, but he’s halted by a seemingly illegal challenge from behind. It could have been a penalty, but the referee is lenient. The ball breaks to Herrera. His stabbed shot is straight at Bolat.
GOAL! Club Brugge 0-2 Manchester United (Rooney, 49 min; Manchester United lead 5-1 on aggregate)
Manchester United’s name will be in tomorrow’s group stage draw. Memphis Depay is at the heart of this goal again, pulling the strings with a surge through the middle. He weights a pass perfectly through to Herrera. He would be entitled to shoot; instead he unselfishly coaxes the ball into the path of Rooney, who can’t miss. Rooney can’t stop scoring now! He’s on fire! The crisis is over, until his next drought.
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47 min: Rooney breaks into the right of the Brugge area and checks back inside. Duarte slides in and Rooney tumbles, appealing for a penalty. The referee waves away his appeals. The replays suggest that there was no contact.
Off we go again! I’ll be very impressed if Manchester United fashion a way to lose this. Bastian Schweinsteiger is on for Adnan Januzaj.
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Half-time: Club Brugge 0-1 Manchester United (1-4 on aggregate)
Manchester United are almost there thanks to Wayne Rooney’s goal. Club Brugge aren’t up to much, although they have shown that they are capable of making life difficult for United if they’re given, well, not half a chance, given what happened at the end of the half ... but they’re certainly capable of making life difficult for United if United score three own goals on their behalf.
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45 min: Claudemir is booked for pulling back Herrera. “I’ll make a comment about that Barnsley goal,” says Mark Judd. “Stones is NOT worth £40 if he does things like that, although he is not responsible for the price put on his head.”
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43 min: What an escape for United! A clever pass from Vazquez catches out the left side of United’s defence and to the shock of almost everyone inside the stadium, Diaby is clean through on goal. The flag stays down and he looks certain to score. One problem: he decides not to shoot. Lacking conviction in his own finishing ability, perhaps, at the last minute he loses his nerve and tries to take the ball round Romero, who remains solid, plunges low to his right and blocks his path. A scramble ensues and United’s covering defenders are able to hack the ball away. It really should be 1-1.
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42 min: Club Brugge have woken up all of a sudden. A cross from the left flicks off Daley Blind’s head and Romero has to scramble and watch it skid wide. Corner. It’s driven low to the near post and De Fauw’s jabbed flick into the six-yard box causes all sorts of bother in the United defence. It only needs a touch; instead it slithers wide of the far post, much to United’s relief.
41 min: Out of nothing, space suddenly opens up for Diaby in the middle. He slides a straight pass through to De Sutter, whose powerful drive from 20 yards is parried away by Romero. Decent move, decent save.
40 min: Depay has a go from 25 yards. His shot takes a deflection and Bolat makes a comfortable save.
39 min: Posted without comment.
36 min: Club Brugge mount a rare sortie down the right. The ball is hung to the far post but a stretching Claudemir heads it behind. Brugge don’t look like scoring. United do. A second goal is on the cards.
34 min: Luke Shaw is having an impressive game and he charges on to a 50-50 ball on the halfway line and heads it towards Depay, who’s got acres of space to run into if he comes out on top with his marker. He doesn’t have to do much. De Fauw falls over in his attempt to win the ball, the Spanish referee isn’t interested in blowing his whistle and Depay streaks away. He’s through on goal. He could shoot. He could also set up Rooney to his right and he can’t quite make his mind up: shoot or pass, pass or shoot? He delays just long enough for Duarte to steam across and deflect his goalbound shot over the bar.
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33 min: In other news, Everton are 2-0 down at Barnsley in the Capital One Cup. That’s not going to convince John Stones to stay, is it. Spanish Bob and Bill Kenwright will be on a hiding to nothing if they lose that.
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31 min: Club Brugge spring forward down the left. De Sutter breaks behind Darmian and whips a brilliant cross into the six-yard box. Where are the Brugge attackers? That was a cracking cross.
29 min: Rooney scoops a stunning pass over the top of the Club Brugge defence and on to Depay’s right boot. Depay is in, but his touch is surprisingly heavy and Bolat is scampers out quickly to smother the danger, receiving a clattering in the process from the Dutchman. I think the flag was up for offside anyway, although replays suggest that Depay might have been level, not that it particularly matters now.
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28 min: Manchester United break down the right. Rooney finds Mata on the edge of the area and he touches the ball back to Ander Herrera, who spots someone he doesn’t like in the top tier behind the goal.
25 min: I fear that we are going to be playing out time for the next hour or so. Rooney’s goal has surely killed Club Brugge’s hopes. They need to score three times to force extra-time now.
22 min: The headlines will naturally be about Rooney getting his first goal of the season, but there was more evidence of Depay’s potential. He’s still got a lot to prove given that he will face tougher opponents than Club Brugge, but there’s plenty for Manchester United to be encouraged about.
GOAL! Club Brugge 0-1 Manchester United (Rooney, 20 min; Manchester United lead 4-1 on aggregate)
The drought is over for Wayne Rooney and the tie is surely over as a contest. This is a fine goal and Memphis Depay made it with a lovely assist. He collected the ball on the left and drove inside, past a couple of challenges, on to his right foot. Club Brugge were preparing themselves for a shot but Depay had other ideas, showing wonderful vision, invention, poise and ability by pushing a superb pass through to Rooney. Brugge were pulled apart by one pass and Rooney didn’t look like a man who hadn’t scored since the start of April as he stroked the ball over Bolat. Depay has been involved in all four of United’s goals in this tie.
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17 min: Darmian races down the right and clips a low ball towards Rooney, who can’t bring the ball under control.
14 min: Vazquez’s free-kick is a waste of time. “Van Gaal spent all of last season talking about balance in the side and now he seems to have settled on playing 3 players in the no.10 role, plus a no.9 who likes to drop deep into the no.10 role and Herrera/Schneiderlin who like to move forward onto the no.10 channel,” says David Flynn. “It’s balance of a sort, provided you count a seesaw tipped to one end to be balanced.”
13 min: A long, searching, diagonal ball is pinged over the top of the United defence. Bolingoli reads the flight of the ball and Darmian, seemingly unaware of the danger lurking behind him, doesn’t and lets the ball float over his head. It’s almost a costly mistake. The Brugge forward is in behind and Romero is in no man’s land. One good touch could take the ball past him and into the net. Instead Bolingoli is forced wide as he stretches to control the pass and he’s unable to make the most of the opportunity. But Brugge keep attacking. Vazquez skips past Herrera in the middle and the Spaniard scythes him down clumsily. He’s booked.
12 min: Mata injects some urgency into United’s play, darting forward, exchanging passes neatly with Rooney and having a go from 18 yards. His shot is blocked and the ball runs to Rooney, who loops an awkward volley harmlessly over the bar, the Brugge fans jeering the United captain.
11 min: Depay tries to smuggle a ball through to Rooney. Rooney is on his heels.
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9 min: United are attempting to take control of the game in midfield. Their passing isn’t particularly sharp, though.
7 min: Ian Copestake has watched a film. “As we are In Bruges, it seems only fair to cite the following warning of a descent into purgatory which could take place here, and which in the film is described by Ray as being “kind of like the in-betweeny one. You weren’t really sh1t, but you weren’t all that great either. Like Tottenham.”
5 min: Club Brugge steam forward. Diaby saunters away and the ball is worked out to the left, United all over the show. In comes the cross and United’s defence is in a state of disarray as it reaches De Bock at the far post. He should score, only to fail to catch his volley properly, allowing Shaw to make a crucial block. What a chance for the home side!
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4 min: Januzaj, once of Anderlecht, is booed when he gets on the ball for the first time. The Brugge fans enjoy it when he’s felled by a shuddering challenge. He’s undeterred, though, and soon he’s scheming on the edge of the area, almost carving out a chance for Luke Shaw. However his pass through to the left-back is overhit and runs through to Bolat.
2 min: United help themselves to a feel of their ball. It’s harmless, methodical, atmosphere-dampening stuff. They’re just trying to take the sting out of the occasion.
And we’re off! Manchester United, kicking from right to left in the first half, get the ball rolling. They keep that rolling ball for all of 10 seconds. Hmmm. Start as you mean to go on, chaps. Incidentally both sides are in their home colours, the Belgians in extremely dark blue, United in their ... ach, you know what United are wearing.
We’ve heard the Champions League anthem. Is it just me or did the Champions League not feel quite right without Manchester United last season? I’ve become so accustomed to them being there. It was very odd to have to snap out of it. I’m also struggling with the loss of Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend now that BT Sport have the rights. I’ll never forget those mentions of that balmy night in Barcelona. Good old Clive.
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Here come the teams! There’s a mighty atmosphere. The Brugge fans have been singing You’ll Never Walk Alone. It’s on! “Baffled why Louis van Gaal doesn’t play Herrera more regularly,” says Rishabh Singvhi. “He’s skillful, tenacious, attack-minded and isn’t a defensive liability like Mata. Needs to play more.”
@JacobSteinberg let's hope Utd go on a Euro odyssey so as to deem League Cup pointless, so Tractor Boys can avenge the 1995 9-0 defeat.
— Nick Moon (@nijomo) August 26, 2015
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In Hansen’s defence, United didn’t really win that title with kids. It’s a nice line, but obviously they wouldn’t have won the Double without Cantona, Schmeichel, Keane and a few other gnarled old pros. It was a mixture of brilliant experience and brilliant youth. “United are yet to be the last team to touch a ball before it goes into the opponent’s net this season, so Van Gaal can be happy that even when we have lost possession by scoring, it’s not necessarily been our fault,” says Alex Michie. He must have been furious against Brugge, then.
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“All it needs is for Jamie C. to do a Hansen and spit “ya caan’ win nuttin’ without scorrin’, before Man Utd go on to win the league with the fewest victories in the history of association football,” says Ian Copestake.
Yes, a string of 1-0 wins secured by Fellaini’s noggin.
“Herrera is the one player who likes to play forward passes, Jacob,” says Jason O’Connell. “Which probably explains why Van Gaal doesn’t rate/trust him.”
I suppose the problem with scoring, the unwanted side effect if you like, is that doing so means that you automatically hand over possession to the opposition. That’s dangerous! You don’t want to be doing that! No wonder Van Gaal has his team playing with such caution.
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“I’m sorry to ask something so basic, but why exactly is Man Utd in this Champions League play-off?” says Diane Peters. “I thought the top four of the premier league were automatically through? Obviously I’m asking this question because I’m American, and also have never watched Man Utd as anything other than a Magical Sir Alex club until recently.”
Fourth place only earns you a play-off spot, Diane. It was previously the reserve of Arsenal, but Manchester United snatched Fourth Place Trophy off them last season. Arsenal’s FA Cup win saw them take their eye off the ball, but they’ve since consoled themselves by winning the Emirates Cup and the Barclays Asia Trophy.
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We have our first email of the evening. “There is perhaps an irony in that I am following the Man Utd match solely to prevent me falling asleep,” says Ian Copestake.
Louis van Gaal speaks. He’s asked about Ander Herrera. “He has showed that he a few times he came in and he did good,” the United manager says. “Also in the training sessions he did good. I have to give rests to the players who have always played. Schweinsteiger, I have to build him up.” Tell me, United fans, what do you think of Herrera? A lot of fuss was invested in getting him but Van Gaal doesn’t seem completely convinced.
The teams
Club Brugge, with five players missing: Bolat; De Fauw, Castelletto, Duarte, De Bock; Claudemir; Vormer, Vazquez; Bolingoli Mbombo; De Sutter, Diaby. Subs: Bruzzese, Meunier, Vanaken, Cools, De Smul, Dierckx, Oulare.
Man Utd, with Ander Herrera and Michael Carrick in for Schweini and Schneidi: Romero; Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Shaw; Ander Herrera, Carrick; Mata, Januzaj, Depay; Rooney. Subs: Johnstone, Hernandez, Young, Fellaini, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, McNair.
Referee: Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
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Preamble
Who’s ready to watch Manchester United play some of that entertaining football they’ve been treating us to this season? Guys? Hello? Guys? Guys, look at this video of cats doing funny things.
There, got your attention again. But the overall problem has not gone away. The simple truth is that United are not quite the draw that they once were, far less likely to make the hairs on the back of the neck stand to attention with their swash and their buckle. There’s no swash! There’s no buckle! There’s no swash or buckle! Manchester United, England’s premier entertainers, are suffering from a severe lack of swash and buckle, which isn’t necessarily what people in England were expecting when Louis van Gaal pitched up at Old Trafford last year. Those of us who were hoping for an Ajax ‘95 revival are patiently waiting. The football has been rather more prosaic than many of us anticipated and there were a few red faces - it wasn’t face paint - about last week after Pedro opted to join Chelsea instead of United.
Of course everything will be better once Gareth Bale, Thomas Muller and Neymar arrive. In Ed Woodward we all trust, especially if you support Manchester City or Chelsea, and United will really be able to kick on as an attacking force once those three are in the bag. Until then, however, Van Gaal will have to make do with a misfiring Wayne Rooney, who will probably burst into life any moment now. It’s a slow process but their football is currently akin to Chinese water torture - that drip-drip-drip of sideways passing is beginning to having a sapping effect, just as it eventually did at Bayern Munich.
There was an interesting quote about Van Gaal from Paul Breitner in Pep Confidential. “He changed a few positions and introduced possesion-based football,” he said. “We swapped Bayern’s traditional style for this high-possession game. But there was still no flexibility in terms of players’ positions and everyone had to stick rigidly to his own area. No one was allowed to wander out of his specific sphere of influence and we began to play one-touch football. We had to focus on passing the ball to each other. In some matches we ended up with 80% of possesion, but there was no real rhythm or pace. After half an hour, everyone in the Allianz Arena would be yawning at this display of constant passing. I bet all of the 71,000 spectators could predict our every move. Our game was well executed but very, very predictable.”
It sounds familiar. Van Gaal here is a feeling that his football is too rigid, that there is only room for one player who breaks out of the system, and it maybe explains why Angel Di Maria didn’t flourish at United. Was he a little too anarchic for Van Gaal? Quite possibly. So it’s over to Memphis Depay, an explosive talent, but a young player who perhaps has more to gain from listening to Van Gaal than Di Maria did. Otherwise there’s very little pace or fantasy in this team; they’ve spent a hell of a lot of money on this squad and now Van Gaal is talking about using Marouane Fellaini, the Belgian battering ram, as his No9.
There’s still time to rectify all of that, mind you, and United are in a better position than this time last year. Progress of sorts has been made. The defence, shielded by Morgan Schneiderlin, is better and although they have not clicked yet in attack, they are unbeaten this season and are close to sealing their return to the Champions League after beating Club Brugge 3-1 last week, a match in which Depay shone with two brilliant goals and a crucial assist for Fellaini. It should be an unassailable lead. If you can’t be entertaining, at least make sure you win.
Kick-off: 7.45pm BST.
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