A late goal for the hosts ensures a wasteful Manchester United must go to Old Trafford with their Europa League quarter-final tie still in the balance. While post-match, Jose Mourinho has a further revelation on Antonio Valencia. Here’s the notes from Thursday’s events.
Anderlecht 1 Manchester United 1
Different country, same old result – Man United again failed to kill off a match and had to settle for a draw in a Europa League quarter-final they dominated for long spells.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s smart finish from a tight angle, after Marcus Rashford’s shot was parried, had given the visitors a lead that their first-half superiority utterly merited.
But United are a side that has drawn 12 of their league matches this season and they took that inability to convert chances with them to Belgium.
Jesse Lingard hit a post and, crucially, Paul Pogba was denied when put through by Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the break.
That would have probably killed off the tie. Instead, minutes later, the Belgians equalised from their one and only attempt on target – United had seven.
The result was precisely not what Fantasy managers were looking for, creating doubt as to team selection in the run-up to a double Gameweek 34 involving trips to Burnley and Man City.
United could, and should, have run out easy winners in Belgium, allowing Jose Mourinho to concentrate his increasingly sparse squad resources, if only in the short-term, on attempting to secure a fourth-placed league finish that would guarantee Champions League football next season.
Now, he will surely be forced to field a strong side in next Thursday’s second leg right before embarking on that double Gameweek.
Mourinho’s post-match comments regarding the 16.1%-owned Antonio Valencia won’t have eased the concerns of Fantasy managers either.
“Antonio Valencia is having some problems and he cannot play every game.”
The Ecuadorian right-back has already missed the last two domestic matches. Those who were banking on strong returns from him in Gameweek 34 are suddenly very uncertain, while his start against Chelsea also appears far from secure.
Injuries to key players in both defence and midfield mean Mourinho can only shuffle his pack so much, but the Red Devils now face four key fixtures in 13 days, starting with a huge match on Sunday against Chelsea.
Expecting the 30%-owned Ibrahimovic and Pogba (7.6%) – or even differential prospects Mkhitaryan (2.4%) or Rashford (4.7%) – to feature in all four perhaps seems unlikely.
The best-case scenario probably involves United losing to Chelsea, forcing Mourinho to commit fully to winning the Europa League and taking at least some of the doubt over selection out of the equation.
But based on how United’s season has been going, they’ll probably draw it, and those doubts will linger.
Team: Romero, Valencia, Bailly, Rojo, Darmian, Carrick, Pogba, Mkhitaryan (Fosu-Mensah 90), Lingard (Martial 63), Rashford (Fellaini 75), Ibrahimovic.
Subs not used: de Gea, Blind, Ander Herrera, Shaw.
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