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.
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. 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.
