Manchester United had a whirlwind last few minutes in its deciding Champions League fixture against Wolfsburg, that ultimately saw the Red Devils lose their game and will now finish off their European campaign in the Europa League.
Needing a win and/or a PSV Eindhoven loss, Manchester United really needed to step up their attack and they seemed to find it when Anthony Martial scored early on to give the Red Devils the 1-0 lead. However, just a few minutes later Naldo gave Wolfsburg the equalizer from a beautiful volley.
In the 29th minute, Wolfsburg scored their second of the game thanks to Vieirinha and Manchester United needed at least a draw to keep their Champions League chances alive as, in the Netherlands, PSV and CSKA Moscow played out the first half to a 0-0 draw.
As the second half of the game neared to a close, Wolfsburg kept their lead but CSKA Moscow managed to score that game’s first goal of the game to give Moscow the 1-0 lead over PSV. This was great news to United fans as this partial PSV defeat meant that Manchester United was going on through to the next round.
Unfortunately for them, PSV scored an equalizer just two minutes later and just as the hopes to stay alive in the Champions League were high, they went right back down with Luuk De Jong’s tying goal. Now with the partial draw in the PSV-CSKA game, the Red Devils needed an equalizer as the game went into the last 10 minutes.
Then a miracle for Manchester United fans as Wolfburg’s Josuha Guilavogui tried to clear a ball coming from a Devil’s set piece, but unluckily found its way into his own net to bring the game level at 2-2.
Unlucky own goal puts Manchester United level with Wolfsburg #UCLonFOX Watch: https://t.co/sLE30MCAkG
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 8, 2015
Once again Manchester’s Champions League dreams were still intact thanks to the error by the Wolfsburg defenseman and surely they would be able to hang on to finish off the last seven minutes to assure themselves passage into the Champions League Round-of-16? The answer for the Red Devils would be a resounding, no.
Off a corner kick, some poor marking in the box lead to a Manchester defender losing Naldo and it was Naldo who headed in the game winning goal for Wolfsburg and, again, deflating Manchester United’s chances at pulling off a miracle to advance.
Wolfsburg get right back in it, lead Manchester United with another from Naldo #UCLonFOX Watch: https://t.co/1SGr9zZ89i
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 8, 2015
This, along with, PSV’s Davy Pröpper scoring their game winner in the 86th minute sentenced Manchester United to third place in their group as well as a spot in the Europa League.
Truly, an unfortunate crash out of the Champions League by the Red Devils as they went from third place to second, back to third to second again, and finally falling to third place within a matter of minutes.
Now, the pressure will surely fall on Louis Van Gaal to remedy Manchester United’s woes as well as try and get a respectable showing in the Europa League.
