Stay tuned for all the reaction from Leipzig, including, no doubt, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s response to the inevitable questions about his job security.

90+3 min: Pogba curls over a lovely cross from the right. Mukiele stretches to cut it out at the near post but diverts it towards his own goal ... keeper! What a save by Gulacsi! Was that United’s last stand?

90+2 min: Maguire is playing as an auxiliary striker now, lumbering around up front in the hope of getting on the end of one of the balls United are launching into the box.

90 min: United have at least four more minutes to save their Champions League skins ...

89 min: Swift passing by United to work the ball to Rashford on the let. He cuts inside, ignores teammates in the area and tries to beat the keeper from a difficult angle. Gulacsi bursts that dream.

88 min: Rashford receives a diagonal pass near the left-hand corner of the box. He lays it back to McTominay, who swishes it high over the bar.

87 min: A blind pass by Pogba gifts possession to Leipzig but they fail to profit. straying offside in their over-eagerness.

85 min: Leipzig try to keep the ball down near the United corner flag but they can’t hold on to it...

81 min: In all the excitement, I neglected to mention that Tuanzebe has come on in place of Lindelof. Thank you for your understanding.

76 min: Fernandez curls an in-swinger in from the left. Rashford tries to get little eyebrows on it, but the ball bounces harmlessly through to the keeper.

75 min: Leipzig substitution: Adams on, Kampl off.

74 min: Fernandes unloads a respectable shot from long range. Gulacsi touches it over the bar.

72 min: Rashford ghosts past two players before Haidara wins the ball with an excellent sliding tackle. But United regain it quickly and work it to Greenwood, who tries to torpedo a shot into the far corner from 12 yards. The keeper gets down well to save.

71 min: Gulacsi tips a shot by McTominay around the post for a corner, then punches said corner to safety.

67 min: Freekick to United near the left-hand corner to the left of the Leipzig D. Fernandes curls a beauty over the wall ... and against the crossbar!

66 min: Fernandes fires off a dipping, swerving shot from over 25 yards. The keeper plunges to his left to push it behind, though it may have been heading wide. “At the risk of lobbing an incendiary sentiment into this mbm, isn’t having an underwhelming ‘star” player as much a part of the modern-era United DNA as anything else?” chips in Grant Tennille. “Veron, Forlan, Di Maria, Schweinsteiger... Surely you can fill in a few gaps in my memory?”

64 min: Rashford drills a shot wide from over 20 yards.

64 min: Pogba flips a nice pass through to Fernandes, who sweeps it beautifully out wide to Greenwood, but Orban intervenes with an impeccably timed tackle.

63 min: Maguire sees yellow for tripping Kluivert.

62 min: Nkunku twists and turns inside the United area and gets off a shot from the left. Lindelof blocks it. Then Kluivert gets booked for trying to pull back Fernandes.

United substitutions: Can Pogba be United’s hero? He’s on for Shaw. And Williams has replaced Matic.

60 min: Shaw’s freekick from the let fails to beat the first man. United’s ratio of rubbish setpiece deliveries to good ones sinks further.

Leipzig substitutions: Kluivert and Poulsen on, Olmo and Forsberg off.

55 min: Fernandez sends a lovely freekick from the right bouncing across the face of goal. Maguire strains in an effort to get his head to it at the back post but he misses it’s fractionally beyond him! That’s the best setpiece delivery from United all night.

55 min: Fernande with an outswinging corner from the right. Nkunu heads it away at the near post.

54 min: The threat from United is growing. They are looking much sharper, passing more snappily and running more ambitiously.

52 min: Rashford zigzags in from the left, working his way to the edge of the area and then feeding it wide. But the cross is cut out.

50 min: United force a couple of corners but they’re well defended.

49 min: Nice play by United. Some dinky one-touch passing in the opposing half, with Van de Beek continually making the sort of proactive runs beyond the last defenders that were missing in the first period.

47 min: Van de Beek’s first touch was to give the ball away. Leipzig have started the brighter, though not to the same extent as they did in the first half.

46 min: Van de Beek is on, in place of Telles. Presumably that means United are switching to a back four.

“Aren’t you forgetting that United could go through if Basaksekir win in Paris?” hollers Gordon Dempsey. That would make no difference to United, Gordon, because PSG have a better record in the head-to-head game between the two.

“Ole has Leipzig exactly where he wants them!” chirps Peter Oh.

45 min: There will be at least two more minutes before half-time...

43 min: Leipzig break after a bout of pressure from United. Shaw takes out an attacker on half-way and cops a booking. Then the ref strides over to the United dugout to administer a stern telling-off to everyone who objected to his decision.

41 min: Rashford is fouled near the right-hand corner flag. Fernandes delivers the freekick beyond the far post. McTominay nuts it back into the danger zone, and Leipzig eventually clear.

39 min: McTominay releases Rashford after United win possession in midfield. Rashford tries to weave his way between the last two defenders but magic eludes him.

37 min: Maguire gets a meaty header to a corner by Telles but it’s blocked by Konaté. And the ref blows for a foul by McTominay anyway.

36 min: For the second time in the evening, poor old Wan-Bissaka tries an extravagant piece of skill and winds up embarrassing himself. This time his attempted shot with the outside of his foot at the edge of the area results in him falling over.

35 min: Sabitzer booked for taking down McTominay in midfield after a strong run by the Scot.

33 min: As if buoyed by the VAR let-off, United begin to enjoy applying a bit of pressure at the other end. But it comes to nought.

28 min: Wan-Bissaka confuses himself as he tries to play his way out of trouble, coughing up possession. Leipzig sweep forward and Shaw has to scamper across to clear before Forsberg can pounce. “I have a feeling that Solskier’s ‘we love to make it difficult for ourselves’ comment will come to haunt him,” suggests Fatsani Sonny Gunya. “I don’t see teams allowing United’s come back kings mantra play their minds. As for this German machine, I sense it’s well oiled for the knockout stages!”

25 min: United have improved, which was almost inevitable. Kongate concedes a freekick wide on the left by shunting over Greenwood. Telles wafts it into the area, offering Gulacsi an easy catch. “So what do you do when you’ve set your team up to be as defensive as possible and concede two in the first 20 minutes?” ask Ole Gunnar Sols David Flynn. “If I know Ole like I think I know Ole, he’ll spend the rest of the game looking like an extremely worried 80-year-old infant and then hope Barcelona appoint Poch before Woodward thinks to sack him.”

23 min: Freekick to United, about 25 yards out, to the right of the D. Fernandes blasts it into the wall and then clips the rebound towards Maguire at the far post. It’s diverted behind for a corner. Telles takes it, Greenwood nod over the bar.

20 min: United are trying to assert themselves somewhat, or at least circulate the ball a bit. But they have shown none of Leipzig’s movement or pizzazz and are being kept at bay quite easily. “Just read Justin Kavanagh’s thoughts and one match springs to mind, the World Cup final where he scored the winning goal,” recalls Harry Crane, though it would be more accurate to say Pogba scored one of the winning goals and did not dominate the game. “I really can’t be doing with this lazy discourse that he hasn’t tried or hasn’t performed for United, when he has been in the team he’s been first for everything that matters (goals, assists, passes) but for some reason because he doesn’t scream at people when the rest of the team around him is terrible its his fault.” There’s some validity to that comment, but the point really is that goals, assists and passes are not the only thing that matter (and he should often prompt faster with passing). But, you know, chances are United are going to ask him to come on and help rescue them here in the second half. He could have the last laugh yet. Whatever happens.

16 min: What do you know, Angelino is galloping down the let again like a giddy little pony in a wide open prairie. And when the cross comes in, Forsberg is in splendid isolation right in front of United’s goal. He takes a touch but then prods the ball wide from 10 yards. That sloppy finish aside, United are being schooled here.

10 min: Wan-Bissaka cuts out a cross from Angelino, who ran on to yet another diagonal pass. The resultant corner is cleared.

9 min: That’s better from United! The chance came from a counter, of course, as Greenwood dashed down the right and cut on to his left foot as he got into the box and cracked off a low shot that demanded a save from the keeper.

7 min: Angelino, pushed very far forward on the left, collects another crossfield pass and motors into the box. This time Wan-Bissaka is quick to close him down but the man on loan from Man City still gets a shot off, without enough power to bother De Gea.

5 min: No sign of a response yet from United, who still look stodgy. Leipzig are positively effervescent in comparison.

3 min: So Solskjaer’s yet again finds himself hoping for another stirring fightback. His side have hardly started so far, although Fernandes has managed to pick up a yellow card to complicate matters.

1 min: Leipzig v Man United is go!

Here comes the teams. There are no fans in the stadium so the booming rendition of the Champions League jingle is solely for the benefit of the players and officials. Leipzig are in their white jerseys with red and yellow go-faster trims, while United are back in black (just in case you wanted a different ear worm to the Champions League tune).

“Scholes might have a point if this was the first time Raiola had sounded off like this,” ventures Mark Gillespie. “However, as it’s been a running theme for as long as he’s been at the club, unless and until he does sack him or reign him in, the only conclusion we can draw is that Pogba is happy with the statements. The agent is the representative of the player and works for him, there is no justification for giving players leeway if their agents make comments like this, as they choose who represents them in the media.”

“The thing I will never understand is why people in the game talk about Paul Pogba’s ‘character’,” notes Justin Kavanagh. “Name one big match, for club or country, that Paul Pogba has truly dominated? Nor have we ever really seen him directing traffic in midfield (say yelling or pointing at those around him a la Keane or Gerrard). He cannot even control his Mr. 15%, yet this guy is supposed to be an influence in the dressing room? I know he’s a talented footballer (when he can be arsed) but what am I missing here?” Personality is not the same as leadership. It seems to me that he is generally well liked in the dressing room because he’s fun, friendly and pretty successful - a likeable teammate - but no, he doesn’t seem to demand efficiency, from himself or others.

“What does Donny Van De Beek have to do to get a consistent run in this team?” demands Ian Palmer. “Matic and McTominay are in ahead of him. I know who I would least rather face if I were the opposition.” Entirely different kinds of players, no? And Van De Beek didn’t exactly seize his opportunity at West Ham at the weekend.

Discussing the recent comments made by Paul Pogba’s agent - to wit, that he si determined to leave Man United - Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes take slightly different views: Ferdinand thinks United should have showed Pogba’s agent - and others - who’s boss and refused to give them the feeling the can sound off as they please without consequences; Scholes, meanwhile, thinks the onus is on Pogba to get a handle on his agent whose utterances, according to Scholes, risk creating the false impression that Pogba is “a bad lad, trouble in the dressing room” (the contrary is true according to Scholes, who says Pogba should either tell his agent to shut up or sack him.

Oh look, here’s the first email on what is sure to be a recurring theme: “It’s a huge night for Manchester United so Paul Pogba starts in his best position,” blurts S Wrap. “The bench.”