MARTIAL KEEPS OLE ROLLING ON
Late strike boosts United trophy hunt
IT wasn’t worth waiting five minutes for, never mind five months, but Manchester had already done more than enough in Austria in May. They advance to the business end of the Europa League in Cologne next week and a quarterfinal meeting with Copenhagen.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side will go into the mini-tournament in Germany as favourites, even though there was little evidence to support that on a drab night at Old Trafford.
A 5-0 lead from the first leg before lockdown turned this tie into the deadest of rubbers and gave Solskjaer the chance to make changes again. He has used 36 players in Europe this season, a record for the competition.
Once again, however, United’s strength in depth was found lacking. When people question the club’s pursuit of Jadon Sancho because they already have Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford in the wide positions, this is why.
Dan James played like a man whose season has been petering out for some time. Elsewhere, United were sloppy in possession and lacked pace and creativity without their key players.
LASK deserved to take the lead when Philipp Wiesinger put them in front with an excellent finish 10 minutes after half-time, but Jesse Lingard equalised with his second goal in as many games, before a late Anthony Martial strike put the game beyond question, with Juan Mata setting up both on a rare start.
If LASK’s place in this competition had looked precarious when they lost 5-0 at home to United on March 12, nothing had happened in the following 146 days to improve their prospects.
While United have gone from strength to strength to take third place in the Premier League, the Austrians had seen their title hopes ended by a six-point penalty for flouting social distancing rules in training and sacked Valerien Ismael as manager last month.
The one consolation for LASK was that United’s impregnable position enabled Solskjaer to name a weakened line-up again with only Harry Maguire and Brandon Williams keeping their places from the final league game at Leicester.
Odion Ighalo made only his second start since playing in the Linzer Stadion in March — where he scored a stunning volley — and so too did Juan Mata and Lingard.
‘There’s opportunities for players to stake a claim if they get through,’ said Solskjaer before kick-off, but it would be a surprise if he doesn’t revert to a significantly stronger line-up against Copenhagen in Cologne on Monday after talking up the importance of winning his first trophy as United manager in the build-up to this game.
He knows the pressure is off United now they have secured a Champions League place, and are favourites to lift a trophy they won under Jose Mourinho in 2017.
A far more even affair than the first leg saw LASK create the better chances in the first half last night and come closest to an opening goal in the 10th minute.
United failed to deal with a corner from the right and Andres Andrade rose unmarked to plant a header against the bar. When the home side struggled to clear again, Wiesinger steered a shot narrowly wide of the far post.
Marko Raguz then flicked a header wide of the upright and Raguz also forced a smart save from Sergio Romero with a shot from 20 yards when United gave the ball away cheaply in midfield.
There was little threat from the home side before Maguire headed tamely wide from Mata’s corner on the half-hour mark.
Daniel James twice got into promising positions on either flank but failed to pick out a teammate, which has been the story of the second half of his season.
United’s brightest moment came when Lingard flicked the ball neatly into the path of Ighalo. The Nigerian didn’t have the pace to get away from Gernot Trauner but he cut inside the LASK skipper and had a clear sight of goal before Rene Renner got back well to nick the ball off his toes.
Fireworks were set off several times outside Old Trafford early in the second half and we were sorely in need of some inside the ground as well. Wiesinger rose to the challenge with a super goal to put LASK in front after 55 minutes.
Once again, United were less convincing in clearing their lines from a corner and the ball reached the LASK defender 25 yards from goal. Wiesinger kept his composure and guided the ball with his right foot beyond Romero and into the top corner.
The lead last barely two minutes before United struck back. Mata swung a pass over the top of the Austrians’ defence to send Lingard clear and he had more than enough time to pick his spot before slipping the ball past Alexander Schalger.
It was Lingard’s second goal in as many games after scoring at Leicester.
Mata also had a hand in United’s late winner when he twice combined with Martial on the edge of the box to send the Frenchman through, and Schalger couldn’t keep out his close-range effort.
United will need to be better in Cologne but they are likely to be a very different proposition when the serious business gets underway again.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): Romero 6.5; Fosu-Mensah 6 (Mengi 84min), Bailly 6, Maguire 6.5, Williams 6.5 (Chong 72, 6); McTominay 6, Fred 5 (Pereira 64, 6.5); James 5 (Martial 84), Mata 7, LINGARD 7.5 (Pogba 63, 6); Ighalo 5.5. Subs not used: Grant, Wan-Bissaka, Garner, Matic, Fernandes, Rashford, Greenwood. Scorers: Lingard 57, Martial 88. Booked: McTominay. Manager: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 6. LASK (3-4-3): Schlager 6; Andrade 6.5 (Filipovic 80), Trauner 6.5, Wiesinger 7 (Sabitzer 73, 6); Ranftl 6.5, Holland 6, Michorl 5.5, Renner 7; Frieser 6, Raguz 7, Balic 6 (Reiter 66, 6). Subs not used: Lawal, Gebauer, Ramsebner, Celic, Wostry, Muller, Haudum. Scorer: Wiesinger 55. Booked: Michorl. Manager: Dominik Thalhammer 7. Referee: Tasos Sidiropoulos (Greece) 6.