Drinks on Fellaini after late strike seals United win
MANCHESTER UNITED: De Gea, Valencia (Mata, 72 mins), Smalling, Jones, Shaw, Fred (Pogba, 64 mins), Matic, Lingard (Lukaku, 64 mins), Fellaini, Martial, Rashford. Subs not used: Bailly, Pereira, Romero, McTominay.
YOUNG BOYS: Von Ballmoos, Mbabu, Ali Camara, Von Bergen (Garcia, 45 mins), Benito, Sow, Lauper, Sulejmani (Fassnacht, 66 mins), Aebischer, Assale, Nsame (Ngamaleu, 83 mins). Subs not used: Wolfli, Bertone, Schick, Seydoux.
Man of the match: David de Gea
Match rating: 4/10
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany) MANCHESTER United progressed to the knock-out stages of the Champions League in most unconvincing fashion, though as Jose Mourinho triumphantly smashed a tray of drinks into the Old Trafford turf, he did not seem to mind much.
Marouane Fellaini’s stoppage-time strike, set up by a Romelu Lukaku flick-on, eventually saw a labouring United past a limited Young Boys side, just as it appeared the club would fail to score in three straight home matches for the first time in its storied European history.
The frustration was beginning to visibly boil over, whether it was Marcus Rashford’s shoulders dropping as he spurned yet another opportunity, Luke Shaw forcibly pushing Jean-Pierre Nsame off the pitch to speed up his substitution, or Mourinho himself, who stalked his technical area in rage for much of the evening.
Yet then came Fellaini’s winner, and there went the drinks bucket, hurled emphatically by a man who was, moments earlier, coming to the end of his tether with this team.
This late victory, combined with Juventus’ victory over Valencia, instead means United’s final group stage game against Valencia at the Mestalla in a fortnight’s time is a dead rubber.
Mourinho and his players can look forward to Champions League football in February, even if this underwhelming performance does not promise much else.
It is difficult to know which United will turn up these days, or indeed whether they will turn up at all, but having arrived at both this season’s previous Champions League home matches behind schedule, Mourinho and his players were more punctual this time, with the team bus rolling in an hour-and-a-half before kick-off.
However, despite the team being present and correct, the same could not be said for much of the home support. Pockets of empty seats were scattered all around Old Trafford after a struggle to sell this potentially-decisive Champions League group game, in what could easily be read as a sign of the times.
Those in attendance saw Paul Pogba and Lukaku dropped following their disappointing displays in Saturday’s dour 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, while Alexis Sanchez was left out of the squad entirely.
In came the likes of Antonio Valencia — making his first appearance since the start of October — and Phil Jones, whose last kick of a ball was a crucial missed penalty against Derby County. Would these players provide the “heart” Mourinho has demanded?
United began with a greater intensity than on Saturday, though still no structure through which to channel this energy.
Opportunities came when Young Boys foolishly over-committed, rather than through United’s own invention, and even then they were spurned.
When Marcus Rashford — starting up front — lifted an effort over David von Ballmoos’ crossbar after being put clean through five minutes in, Mourinho turned to the crowd, folded his arms and shook his head in heartfelt dismay.
A similarly exasperated expression met Rashford’s decision to shoot tamely at Von Ballmoos when Jesse Lingard was square. Rashford did better to connect with Lingard’s neat flick some minutes later, but his attempt glanced wide of the far post.
A goalless first half meant United have scored just four times in the opening 45 minutes of their 13 Old Trafford games
this season, two of those from the penalty spot, and when they re-emerged, Fellaini showed why they might need the referee’s help to break the deadlock.
Shortly after Rashford had misfired once more, hitting the side-netting, Fellaini was presented with a gilt-edged opportunity, the goal gaping after Von Ballmoos had failed to claim a high, dropping ball. Fellaini blazed over.
Mourinho, normally a picture of concentrated, contained rage, was beginning to become visibly furious.
With each mistake or miscue, he would fire a knowing look towards his bench. Lukaku and Pogba would, eventually, come on.
Yet for all United’s possession, for all their sterile dominance, it was Young Boys who suddenly came within inches of scoring.
David de Gea, an interested bystander for much of the evening, knew little about Ulisses Garcia until he was clawing the ball away from his righthand post, just as it was about to trickle over his goal-line.
It was the sort of save that De Gea now produces with such startling regularity, the sort he knows he has to make too often, and even he must wonder how sorry this United side would be if they could not count on his talents between their posts.
For now though, they still can, and while De Gea has their backs, United often only need to get lucky once up front.
With their final throw of the dice, Lukaku knocked on Shaw’s long, searching ball.
Fellaini took a touch, turned and, with a swing of his right boot, sent United through.