Manchester United 1 Zorya Luhansk 0
There have been some glorious nights of European football over the years at Old Trafford, but this wasn't one of them.
United's 1-0 victory over a team that no one in Manchester had heard of before Thursday evening wasn't a thing of beauty. In fact it's fair to say the most entertaining sight of the night was Jose Mourinho throwing a wobbly on the touchline. As the Sun reports the United manger "had a furious rant at his bench" moments before kick-off, a tantrum sparked, claims the paper, by a late change to the Ukrainian side's line-up. Apparently the alteration "left Paul Pogba confused about who he should be marking" and so Mourinho took out his rage on analyst Giovanni Cerra. Asked to account for his hissy fit after the match, Mourinho muttered: "It was set-pieces, organisation. They changed their team for the game and Paul was a bit confused. I want my systems to take care of all the details."
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Other than Mourinho's barney there was little to admire in a laboured United performance. Such is the feeling in Manchester for Thursday night football that United closed the top tier of the East Stand due to lack of demand, which as the Daily Mirror points out, means "over 20,000 fans shunned the match".
Those that did attend won't be telling their grandchildren about United's victory fifty years from now. In fact if they can recall any worthwhile action fifty days from now they'll be doing well. Even the goal had a touch of the farcical about it as Wayne Rooney's miscued shot bounced into the path of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who headed home for his first goal in five matches. The goal came on 69 minutes and it was United's first effort on target. It was that sort of match.
"Wayne was laughing and saying he made a neat assist but really he gave me what the team needed at that time," reflected Mourinho. "That was a second presence in the box. He was more of a striker than Juan Mata who went to the right side."
The victory moves United up to third in group A, level on three points with Feyenoord, and one shy of Turkish leaders Fenerbahce, who come to Old Trafford on 20 October. There's little chance Mourinho will attach much importance to that encounter given that its sandwiched between Premier League clashes against Liverpool and Chelsea. The Liverpool match falls on a Monday, three days before Fenerbahce, and further reason for Mourinho to scowl on Thursday night. "We could play Liverpool on the Saturday, on the Sunday — but we play on the Monday," he said. "We have this kind of poisoned gift of playing on Monday which creates a very difficult situation."
