Full-time: Zorya 0-2 United
United cruise into the next around of the Europa League thanks to a dominant performance crowned by two fine goals.
90 min: Fosu-Mensah exchanges passes with Ibrahimovic in the box and then has a crack at goal from a difficult angle. Levchenko blocks his low shot at the near post with his feet. The ensuing corner yields nothing.
GOAL! Zorya 0-2 United (Ibrahimovic 88)
Splendid awareness and a beautiful swept pass by Pogba, springing the Zorya offside trap from inside his own half. Ibrahimovic runs on to the ball, takes it deep into the Zorya box and then places it into the bottom corner. Nothing the keeper could do.
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86 min: The threat from Zorya, which appeared briefly after the goal, has vanished. United are in full control now.
United substitution: Fosu-Mensah on, Mkhitaryan off.
83 min: Herrera booked for clipping Bonaventure’s heels from behind.
81 min: Bang! Ibrahimovic uses his strength to take down a long pass on his chest and then rifles a shot just over from 20 yards.
79 min: United corer after Lingard’s ow shot from 16 yards is deflected wide. Mkhitaryan sends the corner into the box. Pogba jumps arse-first into the keeper, sending hi reeling backwards with the force of the impact, not to mention the shock. Freekick and, presumably, some amusing photos in tomorrow’s papers, if the photographers were alert.
78 min: Ibrahimovic does well to hold off a defender and nod the ball through to Lingard after a long clearance by Romero. Lingard can’t make up his mind as to whether to shoot or nick the ball past the last defender and chase it. His indecision leads to a worthless touch. Zorya tidy up.
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75 min: Sivakov pulls Pogba back, conceding a freekick about 30 yards from Zorya’s goal, to the right. Mkhitaryan curls it towards Fellaini. He gets a powerful header on it but it flies a few yards over the bar.
73 min: United are starting to wobble. They’re not going to concede another equaliser, are they? A Grechyshkin freekick from the left sails into the United box and Sivakov makes the smartest run. He glances a header at goal from 10 yards. Strong reaction save by Romero!
Zorya substitution: Lipartia on, Ljubenovic off.
71 min: Bailly is back on the pitch and seemingly in good health.
69 min: “Re: your comment on 55 mins that ‘It is going to take something spectacular for Zorya to get back into this game…’ All it takes is for Fellaini to be on the pitch, as the Everton game clearly demonstrated,” guffaws Mark Judd. Your wish is Mourinho’s command: Fellaini on, Rooney off.
68 min: Bonaventure wins an aerial challenge with Bailly, taking the ball down on his chest and then lashing it over from 20 yards. Bailly has remained down. Hard to see what happened, he either hurt himself in the collision with Bonaventure or while landing on the hard ground.
65 min: Bailly makes another well-timed tackle, bringing an end to a promising burst by Bonaventure at the edge of the United area.
United substitution: Lingard on, Mata off.
62 min: Bailly stretches out his leg to make a fine interception, as Petriak threatened to get on the end of a well-aimed pass from deep.
61 min: Bonaventure is determined to make an impact and is bothering United’s defender when he gets a chance to run at them.
59 min: Mkhiaryan makes space for himself with a little swerve of the hips, then arrows a cross towards Mata. But the keeper gets to it first.
57 min: Mkhitaryan plays a low pass to Ibrahimovic down the left-hand side of the Zorya box. Ibrahimovic feeds it back to Mata, who clips a cross into the six-yard box. But there’s no one there.
Zorya substitution: Grechyshkin on, Kharatin off.
55 min: Bailly nudges Bonaventure off the ball and plays his way out of defence. It is going to take something spectacular for Zorya to get back into this game because they can’t get near the United box, and are struggling to keep the ball when they get it.
Zorya substitution: Bonaventure on, Bezborodko off. The striker barely had a touch in the game.
51 min: United are rubbing it in now. They’re just spraying the ball about and making Zorya chase them, and the hosts are starting to look knackered.
GOAL! Zorya 0-1 United (Mkhitaryan 48)
Brilliant! Rojo harasses a Zorya player into losing possession in midfield and the ball runs to Mkhitaryan, who sets off on a dash towards the box. He glides forward, then dummies his way past the last defender and slots the ball past the keeper. So sharp! A fine way for him to score his first goal for United.
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47 min: The Zorya goalmouth is shrouded in smoke as a result of a flare that has been tossed from the same section of the ground from which the firework was thrown in the first half.
46 min: Zorya begin the second half. There were no substitutions during the break.
Half-time: Zorya 0-0 United
Action-packed is not a useful term here. This has been light on events, even if there have been patches of tidy play. United - especially Pogba and Herrera - have been bright up until they reached the box, where precision and sharpness have eluded them.
44 min: Rooney has another long-range blast, this time from about 30 yards. It swerves a bit so the keeper decides against trying to catch and instead touches it over the bar. from the resultant corner Blind centres for Rojo, who slashes at it and sends a 12-yard shot over the bar.
43 min: Ibrahimovic takes a heavy touch on the edge of the box but regains possession and knocks it wide to Rooney, who drives in from the left and lets fly from 22 yards. It bounces a couple of times before reaching the keeper, who stops it without fuss.
41 min: Another United corner. Rooney takes it. He aims for Pogba, but Zorya head clear.
38 min: A long corner travels all the way to Ibrahimovic, who nods it back into the mixer. Bailly, with his back to goal about 13 yards out, takes a touch to tee himself up for an overhead kick. It’s a reasonable effort, but straight at the keeper.
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35 min: Sloppy play by Mata in midfield. Chaykovskiy robs his loose pass and bounds forward, eluding Bailly and Rojo before offloading to Karavaev, whose shot from outside the area fails to find the target.
33 min: Rooney wins the ball back just outside the Zorya box. After a snappy exchange of passes between United players, Pogba makes a burst into the box and goes down under a tackle by Chaykovskiy. He doesn’t appeal for a penalty and the ref isn’t minded to give one. Both men are right: it was an impeccable tackle.
31 min: A firework has just been chucked on to the pitch and landed just outside the six-yard box. Romero who clasped his ears as it blew up. The ref stops play to ask him whether he’s OK and he appears to indicate that he is. Play resumes, and hopefully we’ll have no more of that dangerous foolishness.
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29 min: “As much as I dislike MU, it’s difficult watching Rooney play,” snorts Rob Coughlin. “He’s lost way more than a step or two. He’s had a couple of chances and hasn’t managed to get off a shot.” You’re right, Rob, but, in fairness, he’s performed well in the last few weeks and I think we can cut him some slack today because of the pitch: the bobble aren’t helping anyone here.
27 min: Strong tackle by Bailly on halfway, foiling an attempted counter-attack. No trace of any fitness problems for the defender so far.
25 min: Fenebahce are beating Feyenoord 1-0. If that score remains unchanged, United will qualify even if they lose here, and will not top the group even if they win.
23 min: Superb by Pogba! He elegantly skipped past a man in midfield and then threaded a provocative ball through to Rooney. The England captain then had to choose between shooting from an acute angle or trying to ping the ball across the face of goal for a team-mate. But then, suddenly, the choice was taken away from him by a treacherous bobble.
20 min: Pogba gets his head to a corner, flicking it towards the back post under pressure from Opanasenko. Forster then does well to tip it off the foot of Ibrahimovic, who was attempting to poke the dropping ball into the net from close range.
18 min: United still hogging the ball, probing patiently. Zorya are closing down the openings well, but for how long can they keep doing it?
15 min: Put down that tumbler! Levchenko has to fling himself across goal in an effort to get to a fierce 20-yard shot by Pogba. He doesn’t reach it but, as it turns out, he didn’t need to: the shot was inches off target.
14 min: After some patient play by United, Ibrahimovic makes a dash away from his marker and Mata tries to pick him out with a chipped pass from mid-way inside the Zorya half. It’s a little too long, however, and the keeper collects it comfortably. He still hasn’t been tested. Those nerves must be nice and settled by now. Probably got their feet up as they sip a tumbler of bourbon in front of the TV.
11 min: Blind sends a cross into the box from the left after being supplied by Herrera. It’s headed clear by one of the many Zorya defenders. The hosts have been well organised and determined so far, and quite tidy when in possession. Just like they were at Old Trafford, in fact.
9 min: Maybe not so timid! Zorya suddenly got bold and moved forward in numbers. Then, from a throw-in on the right, they worked a shooting chance for Kharatin. He spanked a low drive goalward from 20 yards, and Romero plunged to his right to make a smart save. Some other Zorya player - I’d like to be able to tell you who - leathered the rebound into the sidenetting from a difficult angle.
7 min: Zorya are timid hosts. They’r defending en masse, challenging United to pick a way through them. United have dominated possession but been unable to open their opponents up yet.
5 min: United have made a bright start. The intensity is high and the intent aggressive.
3 min: Levchenko, the goalkeeper making his European debut, seeks an early touch to settle his nerves ... but a bobble on a back pass aggravates them, and he looks flustered as he bogs an attempted clearance straight out of play. A couple of early tester shots from United would be in order ...
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1 min: Off we go. United do the honours. The pitch looks hard and bobbly so passing is going to be tough, and so are slide tackles.
Here comes the players. United are in Santa-red shirts with black shorts and socks. Zorya are in all snow white. The ref is ruining the festive vibe in his turquoise get-up.
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There has been much hot talk this season about Mourinho’s mood. Well, today, he seems to be perfectly chipper. He’s currently penning his name on the boots of a delighted young mascot. It’s so lovely to see his little face light up ... that it’d be a shame if his team didn’t get the point they need today.
“There are reports that Zorya fans tried to attack United fans – and you just leave it there, you’re not going to comment?” storms David Harrison. What do you think I should say? You don’t need me to tell you it’s bad, do you? If I get word of any further incidents, I’ll let you know.
Mourinho is now talking to BT. He says the pitch is “not too bad ... I don’t think it’s dangerous.” He also says “we want to be offensive and try to win the game”. Of Bailly’s return he says :it’s important, I think Jones and Marcos did five good matches in a row so but they can’t always do it, just those two. Having Eric back, albeit for just two weeks before he goes to the Africa Cup of nations, allows us to rotate a little before Christmas.”
Jose Mourinho is happily signing autographs for locals near the tunnel in the Odessa stadium. However, there are reports that, earlier on, stewards had to intervene to stop a group of Zorya fans from trying to attack visiting United supporters.
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Teams
Zorya: Levchenko; Opanasenko, Sivakov, Forster, Sukhotskiy; Karavaev, Kharatin, Chaykovskiy, Petriak; Ljubenovic; Bezborodko
Subs: Shevchenko, Kulach, Lipartia, Paulinho, Grechyshikin, Bonaventure, Checher
United: Romero; Young, Bailly, Blind, Rojo; Herrera, Pogba, Mata; Mkhitaryan, Ibrahimovic, Rooney
Subs: De Gea, Fosu-Mensah, Jones, Fellaini, Lingard, Martial, Rashford
Referee: T Bognar (Hungary)
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Preamble
Hello. Manchester United are not yet certain of being in the next round of the Europa League – they’re no Apoel Nicosia, Krasnodar or Genk, after all – but they will reach it if they muster a draw or better in Ukraine today. In fact, victory would enable them to finish top of their group if Fenerbahce do not win away at Feyenoord.
United toiled to beat Zorya 1-0 at Old Trafford back in September but they are in better form now and showing clear signs of progress under Jose Mourinho. Still far from perfect but significantly more vibrant than they were under Louis Van Gaal. And tonight’s team sheet reveals more good news: Eric Bailly is back! The Ivorian hasn’t played since limping out of the 4-0 defeat at Chelsea in late October and now here he is making his return, on a frigid pitch in Luhansk. It’s the stuff of which dreams are made. Everything is coming up Jose. If there’s danger today, it is likely to come from Ivan Petriak, the left winger who looked very useful at Old Trafford and could provide a stern test of Ashley Young’s right-back credentials.
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