Manchester United’s European campaign continued this week in the Europa League with a match away to FC Rostov in Russia. In the build, up to the match, there wasn’t much talk about either side but rather the pitch. To be honest some of the discussion regarding the pitch was probably very over the top. It didn’t look unplayable but at the same time for European competitions, it really wasn’t good enough. If a team had a pitch of that condition even in the Championship or perhaps League 1 they’d be considered a laughing stock. At the end of the day, no one was injured because of the pitch and the only impact it appeared to have was the occasional strange bobble of the ball here and there.
Heading into the fixture there was no doubting that on paper Manchester United were by far the better side. But unlike most matches, there were other factors at play such as the pitch. Whatever you opinion is on the condition of it the one thing that cannot be debated is that the Rostov side was used to the surface and the United side was not, giving the home side an advantage. If given the opportunity beforehand to take a draw with no injuries I’m sure that’s an offer Mourinho would have taken in a split second.
It was Manchester United who started the game on the front foot. Rostov did occasionally enjoy spells of possession but this was more due to United being fairly willing to allow Rostov to attack, perhaps knowing that really the United defense is far superior to their opponent’s attacking threats. The breakthrough in the game didn’t come until the 35 minute where Man United scored a well-worked goal to take a one-nil lead. Fellaini battled on the left-hand side of the field before managing to gain enough room to poke a pass across to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Regardless of the game or situation if Zlatan is on the ball in your box then you should be worried and this proved to be correct as he took the ball around Rostov defender, Cesar Navas and followed up this smart move by teeing up Armenian teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who then blasted the ball into the net from fairly close range.
After scoring the first goal of the game United appeared to struggle to keep their momentum going as Rostov started to create chances. Admittedly they weren’t the best of chances but still concerning for the English side. Following half time these concerns materialized when Rostov striker Bukharov managed to latch onto a long ball forward. It was a fantastic volley from close range by the Russian to tie the game at 1.
For the remainder of the game it very ended to end but really neither side created clear cut chances as the tempo of the game slowly fizzled out.
Although United would have liked to get a win in Russia I don’t think they’ll be too disappointed. The main thing on Mourinho’s mind was injuries to his stars and the team appeared to come away from the game relatively unharmed. Although the score sits at 1-1 United have got an away goal in their favor. But regardless of away goals and the first leg altogether the Manchester side are more than capable of simply destroying Rostov at home and so they shouldn’t be particularly concerned with this evening’s score.
