- Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford score after United go behind
- Manchester United hit back to clinch top spot
- Chelsea denied top spot by draw with Atlético Madrid
- Celtic reach Europa League despite loss to Anderlecht
- Champions League roundup: Bayern end PSG’s 100% record
Updated
Tue 5 Dec 2017 16.36 EST
First published on Tue 5 Dec 2017 13.45 EST
Live feed
Key events
Full-time: United 2-1 CSKA
United got the result they wanted even though they didn’t need it; and, more than that, they got some encouraging performances: Luke Shaw was impressive on his first start of the season; Lukaku did very well and got the goal he needed, as did Rashford; and, um, Pogba was majestic, underlying how much he could be missed this weekend.
90 min: The stadium is emptying rapidly but there will be at least three more minutes.
CSKA substitution: Khosonov on, Nababkin off.
87 min: Rashford runs down the left as United counter-attack. He drifts infield and reaches the edge of the area and seemingly considers a Norman Whiteside-style curler towards the far corner. He changes his mind and tries to pick out Martial at the far side of the area. But he botches his pass and offers the ball straight to a defender.
84 min: CSKA have found new strength and are pursuing an equaliser. With some tidy play around the box they work an opening for Dzagoev, who’s free to shoot from 10 yards. He tries to dupe Romero with his body shape, but the keeper reads him and saves his low shot with his feet. Top goalkeeping! if only he didn’t have David De Gea in front of him in the pecking order ...
83 min: Martial and Mata try to tip-toe their way through the centre of CSKA’s defence. They nearly succeed, crowded out at the last.
CSKA substitution: Zhamaletdinov on, Vitinho off.
80 min: CSKA know their dinner’s burnt. They just want to go to bed now. The only remaining question is whether United can inflict more misery on them in the final 10 minutes, not that they’re over-exerting themselves in an attempt to do so.
78 min: Shaw is on his back and receiving treatment, possibly for cramp. It’s been a long time since he’s played 90 minutes, or even 78 minutes.
75 min: Pogba takes down a long pass on his chest. He turns and realises he has yards of open green grass in front of him. So he frolicks forward and essays a spectacular drive from 25 yards. It fails to find the target, unless the target was a bloke eating a piece in Row X.
United substitution: Martial on, Lukaku off. The Belgian gets a big hug from Mourinho on the sideline, and why not? He played very well and got the goal he’d been craving.
73 min: McTominay booked for an over-exuberant tackle from behind on Golovin.
United substitution: Tuanzebe on, Valencia off, to begin psyching himself up for his duel with Sané, Sterling et al.
70 min: Nice control by Lukaku, taking the ball into his possession mid-way inside the opposing half. Then he tries to morph into a silky playmaker, throwing a few lollipops before trying to thread a low pass through to Mata. It nearly came off, too, but a pesky defender intervened.
68 min: It gets worse for CSKA - Basel have gone 2-0 up over Benfica.
67 min: Both teams made changes in the immediate aftermath of that second goal, which surely kills CSKA’s hope. McTominay has come on for Herrera, Gordyushenko has replaced Chalov.
GOAL! United 2-1 CSKA (Rashford 66)
How about that for a turn-around! Lindelof whacked a long ball forward. Lukaku flicked it on, Mata looped a dainty pass over to Rashford, who slotted a low shot into the net from nine yards!
GOAL! United 1-1 CSKA (Lukaku 64)
Pogba clips in a lovely ball from the left with his left foot. Lukaku holds off Vasin and stretches out his left leg to poke the ball into the net on the volley from six yards!
63 min: Nababkin relieves the pressure on CSKA, leading a charge downfield. The attack ends with a token cross into the box, which United repel easily. “Regarding the CSKA goal, there was a similar goal scored in Netherlands’ 3-0 win over Italy at Euro 2008,” recalls Jamie Sword. “Christian Panucci had left the pitch following a collision with Gigi Buffon, and this played Ruud Van Nistelrooy onside as he scored.”
60 min: It’s becoming a proper siege now. CSKA can barely get out of their own box. But their resistance is valiant in there, and United can’t break through. Can CSKA hold out for another half an hour?
58 min: Rashford takes the freekick, but his curler deflects off the eight-man wall and wide.
56 min: Berezutski booked for barging Pogba to the ground just outside the D. Will Pogba exact revenge from the freekick? “The control freak in Mourinho will have to address this latest concession of a goal due to a defender who is off the field,” storms Justin Kavanagh. “Perhaps he’ll have ball boys cover such out-of-bounders with a green colored tarp as soon as they slide off. Or they could just learn to defend as well with 11 as they do with 10 men.” Or they could erect a foam perimeter fence so that players bounce straight back on to the pitch.
52 min: Blind curls over another corner. It’s headed clear. Shaw retrieves it and pings a nice pass through to Mata, who flashes it across the face of goal. Smalling gets on the end of it but it’s whizzing at him so fast that he can’t control the header, and he nods wide from four yards!
49 min: Better form United. They’ve injected more urgency and are starting to ruffle the visitors again.
48 min: Apparently Uefa has said that the goal is to be credited to Vitinho, not Dzagoev. I don’t know whether that means they’re saying Dzagoev did not, in fact, get any touch. He definitely did. If he were a defender he’d be happy not to have it go down as an own goal, but the convention is to give it the scoring team even if the touch is unintentional and doesn’t alter the course of the ball.
47 min: CSKA make a confident start to the second half. With Basel still leading 1-0 in Benfica, the Russians need at least one more goal (unless Benfica equalise).
“Here’s the relevant text from the FIFA laws of the game,” says helpful Graeme Thorn:
“Any defending player leaving the field of play for any reason without
the referee’s permission shall be considered to be on his own goal
line or touch line for the purposes of offside until the next stoppage in play.”
So Blind was playing Dzagoev onside, even though he was off the pitch.”
“Can you explain how Blind was playing him onside bit with more detail?” asks Nicholas. If an opponent leaves the pitch without the referee’s permission, even accidentally (as Blind did in this case by sliding off in an attempted tackle), then he is considered to be on the goal line for offside purposes. Therefore, Blind and Romero combined to keep Dzagoev onside.
Regarding the goal, the replay shows that Dzagoev was not in fact offside because the ref ruled that Blind was playing him on even though the defender had slid off the pitch.
This has become uncannily similar to the Basel away game, when United were comfortably on top in the first period but failed to take their chances and were punished.
HALF-TIME: United 0-1 CSKA
GOAL! United 0-1 CSKA (Vitinho 44)
CSKA slice United open for the first time really, Fernandes getting in down the right. He pulls the ball back into the danger zone. It misses one Russian but Vitinho slides in to poke it goalward from 10 yards! It hits Dzagoev on the way .... United claim he’s in an offside position but the officials decide not to invalidate the goal.
42 min: Valencia goes down in the opposing box after a tangle with Nababakin. The ref gestures at him to get up and not even think about asking for a penalty.
40 min: Pogba jumps to meet a corner by Blind at the near post. But he can’t get a clean connection on it, so it’s easy pickings for Akinfeev.
39 min: Another fine sliding tackle by Shaw, this time on Fernandes, who was threatening to spring past him down the right.
38 min: A slack pass by Mata on the edge of his own area - he presents the ball straight to Chalov! Shaw saves the day with a crucial sliding tackle. CSKA want a penalty but it was a good tackle. “Just want to point out that FC Basel has a hand in this too,” pipes up Kevin Chaucey. “United could lose by just one and Basel could put a handful by Benfica (who have scored just one and allowed 11 in the group stage thus far). It’s already 1-0 in that game. United need to keep their focus. USA went out of WC qualifiers in a less likely scenario than this.” United have a better head-to-head record against Basel no matter what happens today. But I’m glad you brought up the USA’s comical failure.
33 min: Pogba drops a lovely pass into the path of Lukaku, who could let fly from 16 yards ... but instead he waits ... and waits ... and winds up letting the ball run to near the byline, from where he pulls it back to no one. Lukaku had been excellent so far today but little imperfections like that at important times are the reason many folks maintain he is not yet world class.
31 min: CSKA pulls a low corner out to the edge of the area. Berezutski, in space, swings at it but fails to keep his shot down.
30 min: Lindelof intercepts a pass on half-way and then decides to sashay forward. He gains about 25 yards and then attempts to flip a pass through to Valencia, but overhits it.
28 min: CSKA are useful in possession and pretty good at working the ball into United’s third. But once they get there, their moves founder on United’s defence. No hint of danger so far for the home side.
25 min: United are in charge here. A’int no way CSKA are going through to the next round. The players under pressure to perform for the hosts are having fine games so far, especially Shaw, Lukaku and Rashford. But how the last two could do with a goal!
22 min: Pogba plays a lovely low pass inside the right wingback, rewarding a smart run by Shaw, who fires the ball across the face of goal. Rashford lunges at it but just fails to connect from close range!
20 min: After some fine interplay by United, Valencia sends a cross from the right over to the far side of the box. Shaw meets it with a spanking volley. Akinfeev spills it, and Lukaku tries to adjust hurriedly to divert the rebound into the net, but the keeper saves again!
17 min: Blind takes an outswinging corner. Berezutski nuts it to safety. I may have suggested a moment ago that De Gea, rather than Romero, is in goal for United today, which is of course not the case. Sorry about that.
15 min: Rashford is right as rain again - and almost demonstrates that fact by giving United the lead! Mata created the chance with an exquisite piece of control and then a simple set-up. Rashford tried to guide a low shot from the left into the far corner from 15 yards, but Akinfeev got down quickly to make a one-handed save.
13 min: A break in play as Rashford is doused with the magic sponge after catching an arm in the back of the net from Berezutsky as they both challenged for an aerial ball.
11 min: Some neat play by CSKA around the he edges of the United box but they can’t work an opening. Eventually Dzagoev decides to have a bang from 25 yards ... Easy save for Romero.
9 min: Pogba wins back possession in central midfield and launches another United attack. They sweep across the pitch and present a chance to Valencia to score from a similar position to where he scored from against Arsenal, except a little farther out. But CSKA must have been watching that match because they were well placed to make a block.
7 min: Bad news for CSKA, who have to better Basel’s result against Benfica if they are to qualify for the knockout stage instead of the Swiss: Basel have just gone 1-0 up in Portugal.
6 min: Lukaku is on one! He skins a defender down the right and then lashes a low ball across the face of goal. It runs all the over to Shaw on the far side, and his shot from 15 yards is blocked.
5 min: United punt the ball out of their box. Lukaku, inside his own half, lays it back to Mata and spins and dashes downfield. Mata then feeds him again. Lukaku controls the ball beautifully with his chest, turns and then slips in Rashford, who fires past the advancing keeper form 16 yards .... but hits the post! No goal, but that was excellent play, especially by Lukaku.
3 min: CSKA are running around with great vim and trying to go forward quickly when they get the ball. But they’ve not managed to discomfort United, who are standing up to them and taking it all in their stride so far.
1 min: The visitors kick off and immediately launch a diagonal ball forward. United send it back.
A problem with the PA means the Champions League anthem can’t be played! The teams stand there waiting for a while before the ref decides that enough is enough and they’ll just go ahead with the game. The atmosphere already seemed flat, and that technical glitch has added to the sense of non-event. So it’s all down to the players to excite us: here are now, lads, entertain us!
Here come the teams. United, wearing their usual colours, are led out by Valencia. CSKA are clad all in black.
Mourinho speaks!
Here’s the United manager explaining today’s team selection: “ Matic is injured. Many others are injured. The ones available are either in the lineup or on the bench. Luke Shaw plays now and it’s a good opportunity for him but I don’t want to look at it as ‘it’s now or never’ or ‘you have to play amazingly well or you don’t get another chance’ ... the group is good, people fight to have an opportunity. This is not an exam. They just have to play as a team and not focus on individuals.”
As for Marcos Rojo, he says: “Marcos is really tired. He was out for seven months. We thought about not playing him for two consecutive matches but we had to because we had no Jones or Bailly. Now he really needs the rest. It’s not even an option, it’s a decision to protect the player.”
Teams
It looks like United are deploying a back three. Luke Shaw makes his first start of the season, seemingly as a left wingback. And Lukaku is being given yet another opportunity to get back on the scoring trail. If he fails to find the net today, he’ll have gleaned one goal in his last 13 matches: what chance him being replaced by Ibrahimovic against City?
United: Romero; Smalling, Lindelof, Blind,; Valencia, Herrera, Pogba, Shaw; Mata, Lukaku, Rashford
Subs: Pereira, Martial, Lingard, Young, Darmian, Tuanzebe, McTominay
CSKA: Akinfeev; Berezutski, Vasin, Iganshevich; Fernandes, Golovin, Kuchaev, Nababkin; Vitinho, Chalov Dzagoev,
Subs: Pomazun, Makarov, Gordyushenko, Zhamaletdinov, Khosonov, Olanare
Referee: G Rocchi (Italy)
Preamble
Hello. Let’s see how Manchester United treat this match, which falls between two Premier League humdingers. First came last weekend’s wild victory over Arsenal, and on Sunday they take on Manchester City in a bid to revive the title race. So how will they approach today’s match, bearing in mind they have already qualified for the next stage and will go through as group winners unless they collapse to a freakish defeat to their Russian visitors (5-1 or worse). CSKA Moscow have plenty to play for, as they are vying with Basel for the other ticket to the last 16. Mourinho’s lineup will be intriguing. We’ll have news of that momentarily.
Explore more on these topics