All of which means that Wolsfburg have won the group, while PSV Eindhoven take second place thanks to their win over CSKA Moscow. Manchester United are in the Europa League. They’ve made a right meal of this group. They were expected to get through, but the truth is that they are an average side. They’ve finished below PSV Eindhoven. If Louis van Gaal wasn’t already under pressure, he is now. It’s been an embarrassing return to the Champions League for United. They’ve spent a lot of money, but they are the first English side to go out. Will Arsenal and Chelsea follow them into the Europa League? We’ll find out tomorrow. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.
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Full-time: Wolfsburg 3-2 Manchester United
That’s it! Manchester United are out of the Champions League! Looking on the bright side, at least they’ll have something to do on Thursday nights now.
90 min+2: Varela is booked for bringing Schafer down on the left. Meanwhile it’s finished PSV Eindhoven 2-1 CSKA Moscow. United are going out.
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90 min+1: There will be three added minutes.
90 min: David Moyes got through his group.
88 min: I’m not putting it past United to score twice. Wolfsburg can’t defend. Depay lifts the ball through to Martial. He’s denied from close range by Dante. But then the ball is fizzed across the face of goal from the left and Smalling looks certain to score at the far post, only for Schafer to divert his shot wide! From the resulting corner, the ball falls to Lingard, whose blast is blocked!
87 min: Memphis Depay’s cross sails over for a goal-kick. “If heaven forbid Man Utd suffer the drop the one player I will have sympathy for is De Gea,” says Ian Copestake. “Perhaps he had a parachute clause inserted in case of demotion to make him the top earner out of spite.”
85 min: And news reaches us that it’s PSV Eindhoven 2-1 CSKA Moscow. United have to score twice to go through now. On a balmy night in Barcelona...
GOAL! Wolfsburg 3-2 Manchester United (Naldo, 84 min)
This is astonishing! Naldo restores Wolfsburg’s lead with his second goal and Manchester United are back to square one! He meets a corner from the left with a downward header. It beats De Gea’s dive and a desperate Blind can’t hack it off the line!
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GOAL! Wolfsburg 2-2 Manchester United (Guilavogi own goal, 82 min)
Manchester United were out of jail, they were back in jail, and now they’re out of it again. The corner is lifted high to the far post. Fellaini climbs above Dante and nods it down. Benaglio comes off his line, but Guilavogi doesn’t hear the shout from his keeper and the ball skids off the top of his head and into the top right corner! What drama!
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82 min: Despite everything, it’s all United now. Memphis Depay scoots inside from the left and aims for the near post. It’s tipped wide by Benaglio. And...
80 min: Realising that they are in need, Schurrle has kindly decided to play for Manchester United. He keeps passing to the visitors.
79 min: Van Gaal has talked Smalling back on. Smalling is in the Robert Huth role alongside Anthony Martial.
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78 min: Wolfsburg make a change, Vierinha replaced by Timm Klose. And Manchester United are down to 10 men. Having used all their substitutes, Chris Smalling has limped off with an injury. It’s unclear whether the defender will return. He’s been struggling for a while. Van Gaal is discussing the situation with Smalling.
77 min: But wait! PSV Eindhoven have equalised immediately thanks to a goal from Luuk de Jong! Manchester United are going out again! How cruel is this sport?
75 min: CSKA Moscow have taken the lead against PSV Eindhoven! As it stands, Manchester United are going through!
74 min: “You can add me to Danny Langley’s minority — I’d sooner be eliminated having tried to win the game through exciting attacking I-wonder-what-happens-next football, rather than bore the opposition and audience to death through passing to oblivion sideways and backwards,” says Paul Keane. Well, I’m sure plenty of being are being entertained at the moment but I’m not sure how many support Manchester United.
73 min: I thought Depay had scored. I was convinced. He flashes the free-kick round the wall and towards the left corner, judging that he couldn’t get it up and over into the right corner from that range, but the ball whizzes inches past the post.
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71 min: Michael Carrick pings an instant, sumptuous pass to Martial, who’s bundled over right on the edge of the Wolfsburg area by Naldo. What an opportunity for United. Naldo is booked.
69 min: Manchester United make their two final changes. Michael Carrick replaces the wheezing Bastian Schweinsteiger and Nick Powell - remember him? - replaces Juan Mata. That is a curious decision from Van Gaal.
68 min: This is a very hairy spell for United. The resulting corner from the left finds Kruse, who’s unmarked 12 yards from goal. The ball is on his favoured left foot and incredibly he clips his volley inches past the left post! What a miss.
67 min: United clear the corner with some difficulty. But Wolfsburg continue to press and Arnold’s piledriver from 25 yards is tipped wide by De Gea.
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66 min: De Gea makes another stunning save to deny Wolfsburg a clincher. The sublime Draxler spears a first-time pass through to Schurrle. Under pressure, the ball loops off his shins - or possibly off Varela - and De Gea reacts by tipping it over. He angrily appeals for an offside flag, but Borthwick-Jackson was playing Schurrle onside.
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65 min: Martial shoots from the right side of the Wolfsburg area. It’s straight at Benaglio.
64 min: Dante sprays a glorious pass over the United defence for Schurrle. De Gea races out of his area to confront Schurrle, but he doesn’t get there in time and he’s miles out of his goal. Schurrle is forced to retreat but he shows great awareness under pressure, spinning and lifting a wonderful effort towards goal. It’s on target, but De Gea shows his agility by backtracking, leaping and pushing the ball wide! The corner comes to nothing.
62 min: Mata and Depay stand over the free-kick. The big men are up from the back. And Wolfsburg don’t see it coming. Depay rolls the ball across the edge of the area to Blind, who scored from this move against Liverpool. However his careful low attempt to thread the ball through the mass of bodies isn’t good enough. The ball breaks to Lingard and Mata can’t turn his scuffed effort in. And the flag is up for offside against Mata. But this is an encouraging spell for United.
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61 min: United win a free-kick on the left corner of the Wolfsburg area. They have dominant the last few minutes. Can they do anything here?
60 min: United attack down the right. The ball is lifted into the middle and Fellaini heads it into the six-yard-box. A block diverts it to the left for Depay, whose acrobatic scissors kick is kept out by sharp reflexes from Benaglio. United are unfortunate not to be level.
58 min: Juan Mata plays a five-yard pass out for a throw-in.
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57 min: Wolfsburg haven’t offered much as an attacking force yet. Is it a case of holding what they have?
55 min: Interestingly, or not, when United went out in the group stages in 2005, they took an early lead in their final match against Benfica. It was 2-1 to Benfica by half-time and 2-1 at full-time.
53 min: Depay neatly turns away from his marker on the left and whips a fine cross into the middle, where it’s a fuzzy-haired battle between Fellaini and Dante. Fellaini attacks it, but he fouls Dante.
51 min: Could this be the night when Nick Powell makes himself a Manchester United hero?
48 min: A long ball is sent up the left by United. Depay muscles Trasch off the left and tries to reach it, only for Naldo to get in his way. Naldo wants to run the ball behind for a goal-kick, but Depay knocks him over and suddenly he’s behind the Wolfsburg defence. Naldo is left appealing for a free-kick on the floor. The referee doesn’t listen. Depay attempts to cut it back for Martial, but the ball is booted away. Then the referee gives Wolfsburg a free-kick, having been told by an official behind the goal that Depay fouled Naldo. That was all very futile.
46 min: Wolfsburg get the second half underway. As it stands, Manchester United will be out of the Champions League and their task will be even harder if PSV Eindhoven take the lead against CSKA Moscow. It’s 0-0 in Holland.
“This game is bizarre,” says Danny Langley. “But for me at least (likely minority of one) it answers whether I would rather see United play attractively and lose or badly and win. Most attractive performance in weeks: heartening, even if/when we go out.”
United are so open, but they can definitely score again. They might have to do it more than once, though.
“If everyone is enjoying the Schäfer/Wolfsburg wordplay from before, then just imagine the fun between 1998 and 2003, when Wolfsburg were managed by...Wolfgang Wolf,” says Shaun Wilkinson. It gets better. Who needs football when we have wordplay?
The flag went up very late against Juan Mata, just when it seemed he had equalised for Manchester United. Ryan Giggs wasn’t happy. He had a long, frank chat with the fourth official. Yet United don’t have much of an argument. Mata was in an offside position and although he didn’t touch it, he was interfering with play. The right decision, for me. Still, there’s hope for United. They’ve actually done a goal - honest - and they’ve definitely got another one in them. Anthony Martial has been excellent, although I’ve yet to see much from Memphis Depay. The problem is at the other end. United’s defence is makeshift and inexperienced and Wolfsburg are very dangerous.
Half-time: Wolfsburg 2-1 Manchester United
An absorbing first half draws to a close. With PSV Eindhoven drawing 0-0 with CSKA Moscow, Manchester United will drop into the Europa League as it stands. They need a goal.
45 min: Manchester United are denied an equaliser by a late offside flag! Borthwick-Jackson makes an instant impact by winning the ball high up the pitch. He finds Lingard, who curls a cross into the middle with his right foot. Mata tries to glance it in and makes no contact with the ball, but his presence is enough to deceive Benaglio, the cross drifting into the far corner. However Benaglio and Dante run over to appeal to the linesman that Mata was offside and the official, who takes a while to make up his mind, agrees with them. The replay shows that Mata was a few yards offside.
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43 min: Darmian departs and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson is on for his Champions League debut. He’s only 18. Ashley Young continues to warm up. Has he done something to offend Van Gaal?
42 min: United are down to 10 for now. Nine, if you choose not to count Marouane Fellaini. Lingard is filling in at left-back.
40 min: This is worrying for United. Darmian has gone down injured and it looks like he won’t be able to continue. Another full-back falls.
39 min: Wolfsburg are taking United apart on the break at the moment. It’s too easy to get past Marouane Fellaini and Bastian Schweinsteiger, neither of whom are particularly quick. Schurrle charges through the middle this time and spots Draxler in space to his left. Draxler makes towards the area, although he doesn’t quite have the pace to get away from the man on his shoulder. He does have the skill, though. He tricks his way inside and sees the whites of De Gea’s eyes. Yet he shoots too near the United keeper, who beats the ball away, and the visitors just about survive.
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36 min: Wolfsburg spring forward again, the ball switched out to Schurrle on the left again. He runs at Varela, twisting inside and out, and his attempted cross is hacked behind for a corner. United are clinging on a little here. They can’t afford to concede again before half-time. Fortunately for them, the corner comes to nothing. “Some word play for the lull that is bound to follow current frenetic pace of the match: There is a player named Schäfer among the home team’s substitutes,” says Peter Oh. “His name means “shepherd” in German- a shepherd in Wolfsburg clothing! And one could wax philosophical about his fellow bench-warmer Jung...who’s not to be outdone by his English counterpart Young!”
35 min: Manchester United need Michael Owen.
34 min: “No hyperbole,” says Paul Chipperton. “THAT was a BRILLIANT goal!” It was Barcelona-esque.
32 min: Lingard’s cross from the right is headed away. The ball falls to Schweinsteiger, who crashes it well over from 30 yards. The Wolfsburg fans jeer the former Bayern midfielder.
31 min: How quickly the complexion of a football match can change. One minute, United could be ahead. The next, they’re behind.
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GOAL! Wolfsburg 2-1 Manchester United (Vierinha, 29 min)
This is absurd. What a goal. Wolfsburg have done nothing for a while, but now they lead. Schurrle takes down a high diagonal from right to left and moves past Varela, who slips, before drilling a ball back to the right. United are vulnerable here. Draxler is on the ball. He beats a couple of players with consummate ease and then plays a gorgeous one-two with Kruse, United pulled apart, the visiting defenders left with no idea where to look. Draxler is through - he draws De Gea and then tees up Vierinha for an easy tap-in. Stunning. United are in trouble.
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27 min: Darmian swings a cross into the area from the left. It looks like he’s overhit it, but Mata does well to stop it going behind and Schurrle is forced to concede a corner. Blind trots over to the right to take it. He curls it into the six-yard box and Fellaini barrels away from his marker to meet it. It looks a certain goal, but somehow Benaglio saves his downward header and the ball is bundled clear! “I always like it when teams have to change their socks because of a colour clash (simple things and all that),” says Ben Smith. “Am enjoying the officials’ Man Utd at Southampton circa 1993 effort this evening.”
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24 min: Martial has been superb. He nutmegs Trasch impudently and then finds Darmian, whose cross is diverted behind for a corner. Benaglio punches it away.
23 min: Vierinha drives inside from the left and space opens up for him just outside the United area. He decides to have a pop and rightly so - but a timely deflection takes the sting out of his effort and De Gea saves easily.
22 min: Apparently I have lost the ability to spell Wolsburg. Wolsburg. Wolsburg. WOLFSBURG. There.
20 min: A lull. “What are your thoughts about a front 3 of martial, mata and Memphis?” says Dante Danger. “For all the complaints about man u’s ponderous up play, this is an attack that has the potential to be subtle, skilful, Pacey and direct. Surely there are goals in this team and without Rooney, they look a better attacking threat...” This is where Mata played his best stuff for Chelsea. The question, I suppose, is whether he can be trusted defensively. Ah, modern football.
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17 min: Matteo Darmian makes a hash of a clearance on the left and loses the ball to Vierinha. Panicking, he hauls the Wolfsburg man down and picks up a booking. The free-kick is in a similar position to the goal, but this time it comes to nothing.
16 min: Rodriguez’s last involvement was creating the Wolfsburg equaliser. The left-back limps off and is replaced by Schafer,
15 min: This is a brilliant end-to-end stuff now. United haven’t been thrown off their stride by that equaliser. Martial takes advantage of a mistake on the left and speeds towards the area. He aims for Mata with a low centre into the six-yard box. It just evades Mata, though, and Benaglio is able to gather the ball after a shaky moment when it looked like it had got away from him.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-1 Manchester United
Rodriguez stands over the free-kick. It’s too far out for a shot, but Wolsburg are hatching a cunning plan. Rodriguez whips a low, straight ball into the area and Naldo escapes Smalling to lash a brilliant volley past De Gea, the ball flashing inside the left post! What a finish from the centre-back! As you were.
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13 min: Blind fouls Vierinha 35 yards from United’s goal. And...
GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-1 Manchester United (Martial, 10 min)
Manchester United have scored a goal! A lovely goal. Daley Blind slides a pass into Mata’s feet inside the Wolfsburg half and the Spaniard, who’s popped up between the lines, is given too much space, enabling him to turn and look for a penetrative pass. He strokes a delightful ball though to Martial, who’s clean through on goal on the left of the Wolfsburg area. Martial is so cool. He opens up his body and calmly steers the ball into the far corner with his right foot. United are topping the group if it stays like this!
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9 min: Manchester United could score a goal because of their pressing. Dante is a mistake waiting to happen. Manchester United could score a goal!
8 min: Martial and Darmian make headway down the left flank. A tackle on Martial sees the ball run through to Darmian, whose cutback finds Mata on the edge of the area. He tries to shape one into the bottom right corner with his left foot, but his effort is blocked by Dante and Fellaini is flagged for offside.
7 min: Schurrle’s miss aside, it’s been a fairly even start.
5 min: United are attempting to press high up the pitch and they’re forcing Wolfsburg’s defenders into a few errors on the ball. This is a potentially useful tactic, one invented by Jurgen Klopp, I believe.
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3 min: What a miss by Andre Schurrle! A long ball is hoicked towards Max Kruse and United are all over the place at the back. Kruse flicks the ball on to Schurrle, with Varela nowhere to be seen, and the Wolfsburg forward is clean through on goal, with the ball on his right foot. He should score - instead, he skews a volley badly over the bar on the volley. That’s a dismal miss. He was off balance and he could have taken a touch to steady himself. Still, that is a huge let-off for United.
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2 min: The atmosphere is excellent. It feels like it’s going to be a big test of Manchester United’s character tonight.
And we’re off! Manchester United, wearing their red shirts and black shorts, get the game underway. They’ll be passing very methodically and very slowly from right to left in the first half. Wolfsburg are decked out in white and green.
Here come the teams! Sing along.
The Wolfsburg fans have their scarves aloft. The atmosphere inside the Volkswagen Arena is building nicely and the players are arriving in the tunnel.
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“Varela spent last season on loan with Real Madrid’s reserves,” says Peter Oh. “Ferguson wouldn’t sell them a virus but apparently United are happy to loan them a right back.” Meanwhile Harry Tuttle claims that Varela has an attitude problem on Football Manager.
Louis van Gaal speaks! “We have problems in these positions, all our full-backs are more or less injured. At the end you have to give confidence to a very young player.” He also claims that players get chances to score in his team.
On BT Sport, Rio Ferdinand says that Guillermo Varela is an attacking right-back whose first instincts are not defensive. You suspect they might need to be this evening. He also expresses surprise that Michael Carrick is on the bench.
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While we wait and while I eat some pasta, here’s a video explaining all the Champions League permutations. Enjoy!
But what does it all mean? Memphis Depay replaces Michael Carrick for Manchester United, with Marouane Fellaini joining Bastian Schweinsteiger in central midfield, while it’s a huge night for Guillermo Varela, who starts at right-back. Varela is a 22-year-old Uruguayan whose only other appearance for United came as a substitute against West Ham on Saturday. I know very little about him. I assume Van Gaal knows more. But it’s not a stretch to say that Varela has never played in a game as big as this before and Wolfsburg will surely look to target him early on. The German have a tasty attack, with Andre Schurrle, Max Kruse and Julian Draxler primed to cause some havoc.
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The teams!
Wolfsburg: Benaglio; Trasch, Naldo, Dante, Rodriguez; Arnold, Guilavogui; Vieirinha, Kruse, Draxler; Schurrle. Subs: Casteels, Bendtner, Schäfer, Klose, Caligiuri, Dost, Jung.
Manchester United: De Gea; Varela, Smalling, Blind, Darmian; Fellaini, Schweinsteiger; Lingard, Mata, Depay; Martial. Subs: Romero, Borthwick-Jackson, McNair, Carrick, Pereira, Young, Powell.
Referee: Milorad Mazic. (Serbia)
Preamble
So Manchester United are pretty damn boring. Eh? How did that happen?
More on that later. First, let’s get the nitty gritty out of the way. The Louis van Gaal Process reaches a critical juncture in Germany this evening and if United aren’t careful, they’re going to find themselves in the Europa League, which we can safely assume is not how they envisaged their return to the Champions League - it was a truly devastating one-year absence, poor them - turning out. That goalless draw with PSV Eindhoven two weeks ago has left them in a fragile position. If they draw with Wolfsburg tonight, then they’ll be relying on PSV Eindhoven failing to win at home against CSKA Moscow and if United lose, they’ll need CSKA to win. CSKA, for what it’s worth, are already out, although they can still nab the Europa League spot off PSV.
The likeliest scenario is that United are going to need a win. And in order to get one, they’re going to have to do a goal - or maybe even two goals. I know, crazy.
Yet United haven’t been big on goals lately. Saturday’s 0-0 draw with West Ham was their sixth goalless stalemate of the season and it is getting to the point where you wonder if any forward can flourish in Van Gaal’s system. United’s manager seems obsessed with control. His team defends well and they are capable of dominating possession, yet their passing is too often lacking in incision and ambition, and United have become dreadful to watch. Do try to stay awake tonight, even though this is a team that can make you want to knock on your neighbour’s door and do their tax return for them. United have good attacking players, but is their own manager’s tactics squeezing the life out of them? If so, it can’t be particularly hard for opposing defenders to do the necessary.
The hope for Van Gaal is that United can control their way to a precious victory tonight. Their solid defence gives them every chance of doing so and then it’s a question of coming up with a moment of rarely seen inspiration in front of goal. Yet United have travelled to Germany with a scratch squad. Wayne Rooney, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Antonio Valencia, Ander Herrera, Phil Jones and Morgan Schneiderlin are all out. Can Anthony Martial or Memphis Depay do something special?
Wolfsburg, fifth in the Bundesliga, will have other ideas. They lost 2-1 to United at Old Trafford in their opening match, but they top the group and will qualify for the last 16 with a draw. Although they struggled to absorb the sale of Kevin de Bruyne early on, they have improved and Julian Draxler is starting to make good on his potential after his move from Schalke. Still, Wolfsburg did lose their 29-match unbeaten home run to Borussia Dortmund on the weekend. Perhaps we all shall be hailing The Process in a couple of years.
Kick-off: 7.45pm GMT, 8.45pm in Germany.
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