Wolfsburg 3-2 Manchester United: Louis van Gaal's side OUT of the Champions League as Naldo nets twice to send Germans through
- Manchester United finish third in their Champions League group, meaning they drop into Europa League
- A win at Wolfsburg would have sent them through regardless of PSV vs CSKA Moscow result
- United led through an early Anthony Martial goal but were behind by half-time after goals from Naldo and Vieirinha
- A late own goal while PSV were losing in Holland had United fans briefly thinking they were heading through
- But PSV's late comeback, coupled with Naldo's winner at the Volkswagen Arena, sent them crashing out
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For all of a minute, the Champions League knockout stage beckoned. Wolfsburg midfielder Josuha Guilavogui had put through his own net and Manchester United were level. In Eindhoven, so were PSV and CSKA Moscow.
All the numbers were adding up. Somehow, almost by accident it seemed, United were going through.
And then, just as unaccountably, they were not. For the second time in the space of one night in Lower Saxony a defence famed for its resilience in Premier League football utterly failed to defend a straightforward set-piece.
David De Gea sinks to his knees after he and his Manchester United team-mates failed to stop Naldo heading Wolfsburg's late winner
Manchester United's players trudge off the pitch dejected after the late Naldo goal confirmed their exit from the Champions League
United manager Louis van Gaal (third left) and his coaching staff look shell-shocked as their fate becomes apparent
Van Gaal is confronted by some spectators as he leaves the pitch at the Volkswagen Arena after the end of the match
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP B TABLE AND PITCH MAP OF VIEIRINHA'S SUPERB GOAL AT THE VOLKSWAGEN ARENA
Julian Draxler (No 10) was at the heart of a fine team move for Wolfsburg's second - click here for more from Match Zone
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In the first half, the supremacy of an early goal had lasted three minutes. Parity didn’t even make it that far. From the next attack, Wolfsburg got their third. A newsflash from Eindhoven then announced the home team were ahead and, at that point, United were done. They will be involved in a UEFA draw later this month but for the Europa League, not the competition with the glamour and glory; the one many thought had smiled on them the day they heard the group-stage draw.
Wolfsburg, PSV Eindhoven and CSKA Moscow. Not exactly a Spanish inquisition, was it? Not exactly the sort of unplayable hand usually dealt to Manchester City at this stage. No Serie A champions, no Bayern Munich.
Yet from the moment Luke Shaw was cruelly injured in the first game, United have struggled to make headway. With Eindhoven winning last night they would have needed victory here, too. They were rarely near that. United took the lead after 10 minutes, surrendered it after 13 and never got it back.
They traded vices with their domestic form. In the Premier League, United can keep a clean sheet but cannot score; here, they scored, but couldn’t hang on.
Injuries have played a part defensively, but not to this extent. United are short of full backs but did not lose here because they were breached on the flanks. Wolfsburg’s first and third goals came about quite simply because they could not pick up an old-fashioned big lad in the penalty area at set-pieces. A Brazilian defender, Naldo, scored the equaliser and the winner. Van Gaal looked on, stone-faced, lips pursed.
There were no cries of attack, attack, attack last night. Defend, defend, defend was the order — and when it mattered, United could not.
Still, Van Gaal’s critics wanted the excitement back and they certainly got it. They wanted to see great goals, too — and they were rewarded with arguably the goal of the season. A pity it was scored by Wolfsburg’s wide right, Portuguese international Vieirinha, but you can’t have everything. If you’re going to lose, at least lose to an absolute cracker. For their second goal alone, Wolfsburg deserved to win.
It had been the perfect start for United. There were just 10 minutes gone when Juan Mata played a peach of a pass into the path of Anthony Martial, who foiled Wolfsburg’s high line and dashed through on goal with only goalkeeper Diego Benaglio to beat. It had been 851 minutes of Champions League football for Martial in his brief career, with just a single goal as return. This was his second and it was an outstanding finish. His sidefoot take was sublime, leaving Benaglio no chance. It was his first in 10 for United and could not have come at a better time. Now they could play to their defensive strengths.
Manchester United striker Anthony Martial side-foots the ball past Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio early in the first half
The young Frenchman wheels away to celebrate in front of the Manchester United fans after getting his side off to the perfect start
Martial is mobbed by his team-mates after giving his side the lead in the must-win Champions League group stage match in Germany
Martial puts his hand to his heart after ending his goal drought to score his sixth goal in 16 matches since moving to England
Manchester United chief executive Ed Woodward (left) smiles with co-chairman Avram Glazer ahead of the match at the Volkswagen Arena
You’d think. Just four minutes later Daley Blind fouled Vieirinha, conceding a free-kick 35 yards from goal. It was clipped in by Switzerland full back Ricardo Rodriguez — his last significant involvement, before going off injured three minutes later — and swept past David de Gea by Naldo, who had been lost by Blind, at fault again, twice in one move.
The Dutchman came close to making amends with a neat corner that was met in the air by Marouane Fellaini, forcing a brilliant save from Benaglio. But while United threatened mainly through direct play and strong set-pieces, Wolfsburg’s next goal was a thing of quite exquisite beauty.
Julian Draxler started it, shaped it and all but completed it — although the final flourish belonged to Vieirinha, and two other Wolfsburg players were crucially involved. It is easy to see why Juventus, as well as a number of Premier League clubs, had Draxler in their sights this summer before he elected to remain in the Bundesliga.
It was his pass from deep that found Andre Schurrle, late of Chelsea, who returned the favour with a crossfield ball after Draxler had made a surging forward run. He cut inside, right to left, past Bastian Schweinsteiger with almost indecent ease, before playing a delightful one-two with Max Kruse just inside the area. With Draxler on goal, the stadium expected him to finish but he chose unselfishly to take the option that made scoring a certainty, squaring the ball to Vieirinha in front of goal. On the bench, United’s coaches, Ryan Giggs in particular, looked stunned at being carved apart in this way. Giggs used to score goals like that. Better even, some will argue. He barely needed any assistance at Villa Park that time.
Brazilian defender Naldo gets ahead of Chris Smalling to deftly divert the ball into David De Gea's bottom left-hand corner
Naldo celebrates wildly with his team-mates after his equaliser put the Bundesliga side back on top of their Champions League group
Julian Draxler (left) squares the ball to Vieirinha for Wolfsburg's second goal after the playmaker had orchestrated a fine team move
De Gea is helpless to stop Vieirinha tapping in from just yards out to put Wolfsburg ahead for the first time on the night
Juan Mata (left) and Martial look dejected before the restart after Manchester United had fallen behind to Vieirinha's goal
It could have been over six minutes before half-time had Draxler not been kept out by De Gea, cutting inside again, having been put through by Schurrle. And then, briefly, chaos reigned. United thought they had equalised, Wolfsburg protested that the goal should be disallowed and a Serbian linesman took an approach that had little on its side, bar mystery, or a feeling for heightened drama.
Substitute Cameron Borthwick-Jackson — on for the latest injury victim, Matteo Darmian — won the ball on the left and laid it to Jesse Lingard, whose shot curled around Benaglio. Wolfsburg’s players were incensed, furiously insisting that Mata was in an offside position and in Benaglio’s eye-line. But no flag.
The linesman, however, appeared to be telling referee Milorad Mazic something. And then, suddenly, a flag. It must have arrived a good 30 seconds after the incident, almost as if by oversight. Maybe the linesman was telling his colleague, ‘That definitely looked offside to me. If only I had some sort of a flag or something that I could…’ Looks down at hand. ‘Well, stone me.’
Giggs led some equally vehement United protests once the call was reversed, but it was a just decision — even if the path to it was inexplicably complex.
Jesse Lingard cuts in from the left to cross for Mata, though the ball ended up curling straight into the Wolfsburg net
Mata and Memphis Depay (left) celebrate but the goal would eventually be disallowed by the officials for offside
The replays showed that Mata was indeed offside as he moved towards the ball despite not touching it before it went in
Mata and Lingard remonstrate with the referee after United's potential equaliser was belatedly disallowed by the Serbian officials
Manchester United assistant manager Ryan Giggs (right) argues with the fourth official after United were denied a first-half equaliser
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson (centre) watched the game alongside their ex-CEO David Gill (left)
And that was how it remained until the 82nd minute. Wolfsburg had several opportunities to put the match beyond United’s reach. Schurrle almost chipped De Gea from range after the goalkeeper had dashed clear of his penalty area in a misguided attempt to ward off the threat of Dante. Maximilian Arnold had a shot tipped round, Naldo went close again from the resulting corner.
At one point, just after Memphis Depay had put a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area wide, news came through that Moscow were leading in Eindhoven. At that point, even in defeat, United were going through. It seemed too good to be true. It was.
Eindhoven quickly equalised, but so did United. Blind put in the corner which Fellaini won, burying his header in the turf. The ball reared up, Guilavogui attempted to clear, but succeeded only in diverting the ball over the head of goalkeeper Benaglio. And that is how, on current form, it should have stayed. Of all the Premier League teams, United would be best trusted to see out the last eight minutes in these circumstances.
Instead they could not safely deliver two. It was Naldo again, a free header this time. Van Gaal claimed Chris Smalling had a groin injury that prevented him being able to jump, but if that was the case why was he responsible for Wolfsburg’s danger man? It makes no sense. But then not a lot did last night; or this morning, when Manchester United’s directors survey the final standings in Group B, and wonder how a £250million programme proved no match for Wolfsburg and PSV Eindhoven.
Naldo rises to meet the ball and head home Wolfsburg's late winner which sent them through to last 16 as group winners
Daley Blind and Jesse Lingard are unable to stop Naldo's effort on the line after De Gea was beaten by the well-directed header
Naldo and his team-mates celebrate after his goals sank Manchester United on a famous night in the Champions League
Van Gaal cuts a disconsolate at the end of the match after his team are knocked out of the Champions League
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3351488/Wolfsburg-3-2-Manchester-United-Louis-van-Gaal-s-Champions-League-Naldo-nets-twice-send-Germans-through.html#ixzz3tmYcrCxF
