Match report
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Final score: Lask 0-5 Manchester United
A most satisfactory evening for United even before the unexpected two-goal stoppage-time bonus. They were clearly the better team, but they really did not create that many clear chances and the final score does flatter them. What they did, though, is score a succession of really excellent goals.
GOAL! Lask 0-5 Manchester United (Pereira, 90+3 mins)
There’s no stopping United in stoppage time! From a deep free-kick Pereira plays a short one-two with Fred and then hits a shot from about 40 yards that somehow squirms past Schlager!
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GOAL! Lask 0-4 Manchester United (Greenwood, 90+2 mins)
There’s already been a fantastic left-footed finish and a fantastic assist, here’s a fantastic assist and a fantastic left-footed finish. It’s Chong’s pass, not particularly difficult but perfectly timed and weighted, and Greenwood sprints into the area and then lashes a low shot past Schlager and in off the inside of the near post!
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90+1 mins: There will be about three minutes of stoppage time.
89 mins: Lask work the ball into the area nicely, but then as soon as they get there Shaw nicks it off them. United spring forward, and Reiter is booked for pushing Chong as they counter.
86 mins: That really was a very lovely assist from Fred. He now has three assists and two goals from six Europa League games this season, and neither a goal nor an assist from 33 domestic appearances.
85 mins: A final change, as United bring Greenwood on for Ighalo. They take a left-wing corner, which Maguire meets but heads wide.
84 mins: Chong bursts down the left, runs towards the penalty area and then runs right into Trauner, presumably hoping to get a free-kick for his troubles. He does not.
82 mins: “The Lask keeper looks a lot like David Platt from coronation Street!” exclaims Brian Kitt. I’ll have to take your word for it.
GOAL! Lask 0-3 Manchester United (Mata, 82 mins)
Fred splits the defence with a lovely pass, and Mata gives the keeper the eyes and sidefoots the ball into the right-hand corner!
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80 mins: Lask’s players appeal for a handball in the penalty area, with Fred the alleged offender. The referee ignores them, then a short while later stops the game while the VAR has a look. No penalty.
78 mins: United take off Bruno Fernandes and bring on Andreas Pereira. The last 10 minutes or so have been more or less entirely stoppage.
76 mins: Lask bring Haudum on for Holland, their final substitution.
75 mins: Another Lask shot goes off target, this time Klauss shooting wide from 25 yards. I think that’s their ninth shot, every one of them wayward.
73 mins: Another stoppage, as Bailly receives extended treatment to a saw right hip after jumping into Klauss and landing awkwardly.
71 mins: United make a changes, bringing on Chong and taking off James.
70 mins: Lask still haven’t had a shot on target, but they really should have just changed that statistic! Michorl gets the ball on the edge of the area, jinks past a marker, and opens up a fantastic shooting chance, 16 yards out, on his left foot. He smashes it both high and wide.
66 mins: Lask remain in search of their first shot on target. Raguz has a chance to change that, but tries to go past Maguire before shooting and fails.
62 mins: Ighalo hits the post! Fernandes releases him with a lovely flick, and he does well to hold off a defender, waits for the keeper to commit, slides the ball past him but can’t find the net!
61 mins: Lask bring on Marko Raguz, taking off Tetteh.
GOAL! Lask 0-2 Manchester United (James, 58 mins)
James is released by Ighalo, cuts in from the left, bides his time, bides a bit more time, looks to have bided a bit too much time, but with Holland about to tackle he shoots low past a wrong-footed Schlager and into the bottom left corner!
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57 mins: Ighalo, who is having another pretty good all-round game, pulls back to McTominay, whose shot is straight at Schlager.
55 mins: Shaw runs off the left and into the penalty area. He has James to his left, Ighalo to his right, but actually should probably have just shot himself. Instead he gets confused by all his options, delays making any decision at all, and then pokes the ball out of play.
51 mins: Chance! Ighalo’s pass is a bit too strong to Fred but deflects through to Shaw, whose centre skids to Mata, who half-volleys high! The kind of chance that a really good player in peak form sends effortlessly into the top corner prompting the co-commentator to say that it was a lot harder than it looked.
49 mins: I’m finding it a bit confusing that Michorl’s surname is, at least phonetically, identical to Stuart McCall’s. I keep looking for the red-headed Scot.
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48 mins: It’s tapped short to Michorl, who drives the ball into the wall.
47 mins: Shaw brings down Reiter on the edge of United’s penalty area - an accidental ankle-nudge rather than anything more sinister - and Lask have a free-kick, plus Shaw a booking.
46 mins: Peeeeep! The second half has begun.
The players are back out. More football ahoy!
Some half-time reading for you:
A pretty forgettable half of football, decorated with a superb goal.
WHAT A GOAL! 😱
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 12, 2020
Odion Igalho has done it again as he gives Man Utd the lead with an absolute beauty 🔥
Solskjaer's reaction says it all! pic.twitter.com/JisDmPsJDh
Half time: Lask 0-1 Manchester United
45+2 min: One last half-hearted attack from Lask, which ends when Renner’s pass towards Michorl runs out of play, and that’s it!
45+1 mins: Into stoppage time we go. There should only be about a minute.
44 mins: Chance! United win a corner on the right and Maguire rises highest in the middle but heads wide!
42 mins: James bursts towards the penalty area but instead of shooting he passes to a surprised Ighalo, who then overhits a layoff to Fernandes, who therefore has to hurry his shot, which is thus not up to much.
40 mins: Chance for Lask! A cross from the right ends up at the feet of Frieser, beyond the far post, who controls and then shoots back across goal. It might have gone in, but Bailly got a foot in the way to make sure it didn’t.
38 mins: Now Klauss goes in the book. He and Fred both went for the same waist-high ball; Klauss got there first, but then kicked Fred in the stomach in his follow-through.
37 mins: Klauss goes down over Bailly’s outstretched leg. I’m not sure what Bailly was thinking sticking his leg out like that, but Klauss clearly didn’t even touch it. The referee gives the free-kick but not a booking, and Lask make nothing of the set piece.
33 mins: Trauner gets booked for hitting Ighalo in the face with a swinging left arm. Clearly entirely accidental, but the Nigerian seems to be quite sore.
32 mins: Lask win a potentially dangerous free-kick, but Reiter hits it into the wall.
28 mins: Fernandes tries a pass to James, hits it into a defender, collects the rebound and this time chips it to Ighalo, who controls well, juggles the ball a bit and then belts in a left-footed shot from the edge of the box that flies into the top left corner, with Schlager leaden-footed. That is an absolutely superb goal.
GOAL! Lask 0-1 Manchester United (Ighalo, 28 mins)
Cowabunga! That’s a cracker from Ighalo!
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26 mins: Mata plays a lovely first-time pass for James to run onto on the left. He’s well defended by Reiter, though, and nothing comes from it.
24 mins: And another chance! The corner is sent towards the near post, where McTominay wins the header only for the ball to go wide.
24 mins: Chance! United zip the ball about for a while, ending with Mata passing to James, who from the edge of the area curls a low shot towards the far corner that Schlager turns round the post!
21 mins: A nice move from Lask, who work a free-kick to Michorl on the left, but his cross flashes across goal and out the other side.
20 mins: Ighalo shoots low from just outside the area, but straight at Schlager.
18 mins: Ighalo, on the byline to the right of the penalty area, picks out a decent pass to Mata, but he misses his kick completely. Then Shaw gets down the left and crosses towards Ighalo, and the keeper pushes it away from him but straight to Mata, whose attempt to sidefoot past a couple of defenders doesn’t make it past the couple of defenders.
16 mins: United aren’t completely dominating this. I’m sure they’ve had the majority of the possession, but it’s not totally overwhelming and Lask have shown they can threaten on the counter.
13 mins: After a throw-in Klauss sprints down the right, comfortably outpacing Maguire, but then he goes down a little too eagerly as the chasing Maguire leans an arm into him and the referee is unimpressed.
10 mins: Fernandes tricks his way past Ranftl on halfway, but then gives the ball away.
8 mins: An excellent ball into the area from Bruno Fernandes, picking out Mata beyond the far post, but his cushioned volley back across goal doesn’t pick out anyone.
8 mins: United have had attacks curtailed by offside calls a couple of times already, Ighalo the latest to be caught out.
6 mins: Lask win a free-kick, wide on the right, and send it over the penalty area and out of play.
4 mins: The first shot of the match comes from the left foot of Fred, and about 25 yards out. It flies well over the bar.
1 min: Peeeeep! United, dressed head to toe in black (Lask are entirely clad in white: it’s one for the purists, this) get the game under way.
They just observed what you might call a minute’s silence (it lasted about 15 seconds), which seems a strange thing to do in an almost empty stadium.
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Right then. The anthem has been played. The players haven’t shaken hands, bumped fists, tapped elbows or even nodded politely at each other, they just stood in a line, and then broke off and walked away.
Some fans appear to have sneaked into the ground. Perhaps a couple of hundred of them or so are sitting in the stands.
The players have gone back in, and are about to come back out again.
The players are out and warming up, soaking up the atmosphere.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has had a pre-match chat:
The team’s just prepared as normal, obviously knowing that it was up in the air. But the boys have been very good, they’re focusing, and they’ve not asked me one question about whether it’s going to be on or not. There’s a couple of forced changes, and of course other players have shown they’re capable of playing for us, and some of it is tactics for this game and this opposition.
I think it’s going to be a tough game physically. [Lask are] very direct, very hard-working. Strong. They’ve got a way of playing that they’re used to. Very good at set plays. We’re ready for them.
I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but I suppose this bloke couldn’t find a face mask and wasn’t very good at making his own.
The teams!
And here are the teams in full:
Lask: Schlager, Ramsebner, Trauner, Ranftl, Reiter, Holland, Michorl, Renner, Tetteh, Klauss, Frieser. Subs: Balic, Muller, Wostry, Haudum, Raguz, Sabitzer, Gebauer.
Manchester United: Romero, Williams, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Mata, Bruno Fernandes, James, Ighalo. Subs: De Gea, Lindelof, Andreas Pereira, Greenwood, Matic, Tuanzebe, Chong.
Referee: Artur Soraes Dias (Portugal).
Here’s the United team. You will notice that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made five changes, swapping Sergio Romero for David De Gea in goal, and naming Eric Bailly, Scott McTominay, Juan Mata and Odion Ighalo in his starting XI:
📜 Ole's named his team to face LASK... let's go, #MUFC! 🤜🤛#UEL
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) March 12, 2020
Preamble
Hello world!
Tonight/this evening/morning/whatever we will watch a game of football. Enjoy this sensation, for we might not have it for long. It will anyway be somewhat subdued, with no fans permitted inside the Linzer Stadion, but there will be 22 top-level (open to debate) footballers kicking a ball around, and that’s something to be cherished. United have a few injuries, as ever, but they do have the free-scoring (in cup competitions) Odion Ighalo in their starting line-up and an excellent record against Austrian teams: they have won their last six such games, and have an overall record of P8 W7 D1 L0.
Anyway, let’s crack on. I’ll have the teams for you in just a moment, and until then here’s an excellent article about Lask by Marcus Christenson:
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