Manchester United 5 FC Midtjylland 1
An almost unrecognisably callow Manchester United made life difficult for themselves against the footballing midgets of Midtjylland by going behind and then missing a series of chances including a first-half penalty, before the day was saved by 18-year-old Marcus Rashford, a reserve who found out he was playing only a few minutes before kick-off.
Rashford scored twice in the second half, both convincing close-range finishes, to complete an extraordinary day’s work and keep his side in Europe and his manager in a job, at least for a few more days. Victory was embellished by Ander Herrera’s late penalty, which was swiftly followed by a stunning effort from Memphis Depay.
It was scarcely the most convincing United performance, yet that hardly mattered in the end. It was scarcely the most convincing United side, but Louis van Gaal clearly has some youthful promise at his disposal.
United's evening got off to a dreadful start. Already giving a first start to the left-back Joe Riley and playing Michael Carrick at centre-half because of the late withdrawal of Chris Smalling, the home side had to bring in the 18-year-old debutant Rashford as an emergency striker after Anthony Martial injured himself in the warm-up.
Van Gaal really is having no luck with injuries. David de Gea injured himself in the warm-up prior to the first leg in Denmark last week and Wayne Rooney is out for some weeks to come. Anyone glancing at the United starting lineup might have assumed Van Gaal was fielding a selection of kids and reserves because he was not too concerned about the competition or the result, when nothing could have been further from the case. The Europa League remains the club’s best chance of Champions League football next season and therefore could be crucial to the manager’s future. United needed a result here, and this was the strongest side they could put out.
At least Rashford did not look overawed by the prospect of leading the United attack. He cut in from the left after a quarter of an hour to bring the first save of the game from Mikkel Andersen with a confidently struck shot. United gradually improved after a somewhat shaky start, with Guillermo Varela showing up well on the right, though it was Jesse Lingard who threatened next when he blocked Filip Novak’s clearance and saw the ball ricochet into the side-netting.
It began to look as if Midtjylland might be content to sit on their first-leg lead and let their hosts do the running, an impression quickly shown to be misguided when a free-kick allowed the Danish side to set up their first real attacking situation just before the half-hour. Just as he had when scoring in the first leg Pione Sisto again proved quick and elusive. Turning on the edge of the area to take out Daley Blind, he easily evaded Carrick’s rather despairing lunge to make space to slot a low shot beyond Sergio Romero. Now two behind in the tie and with an away goal conceded United’s evening had just got worse still, though despite their youth and inexperience they kept their shape and were back in the game within five minutes.
Depay had already seen a shot saved by Andersen when he turned up again on the left, sending over a teasing cross from the goal line that Nikolay Bodurov could only turn into his own net. Thus encouraged, United kept attacking, and would have been in front by the interval had Juan Mata managed to convert a penalty. After Morgan Schneiderlin saw a header come back off a post Andre Romer brought down Ander Herrera just inside the area, only for Anderson to reach Mata’s accurate but tamely struck attempt from the spot.
Schneiderlin missed a close-range chance at the start of the second half, then helped Depay set up Herrera with a free header, only for the midfielder to miss the target with the goal gaping. Those errors were quickly forgotten when Rashford scored his first United goal, turning up in the right place to bury an almost unmissable opportunity after Mata had returned the ball from the left along the six-yard line.
Lingard was booked for diving in search of a penalty, probably correctly, as United stepped up their efforts to find a winner. But with Rashford on the pitch there was no need to go to such extremes. A memorable debut was completed 15 minutes from the end when Varela turned his man neatly on the right to send over a cross that once again found Rashford lurking on the six-yard line and producing an unerring finish. The teenager might have ended up with a hat-trick had he been permitted to take a late penalty when Kian Hansen handled, but with safety and perhaps Mata’s miss in mind the task was entrusted to Herrera, who made no mistake. By the time Depay scored a deserved goal to make it five United were playing against 10 men, Romer having received a second yellow card. In the record books in years to come this will look an easy win. It was not quite that.
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