A night that started with some dressing-room confusion over the identity of their captain ended with Sir Alex Ferguson’s team hanging on grimly in European football’s second-tier competition. Suffice to say that Manchester United have had better evenings.
The bottom line is that they are in the last 16 of the Europa League. The prospect of an all-Manchester final in Bucharest in May remains. It is, after all, the only thing that could possibly make this competition interesting.
However, the 3-2 aggregate scoreline fails to tell the whole story of what turned out to be a peculiar night of football at Old Trafford.
First, the tale of the captain. Phil Jones appeared with the ‘C’ next to his name on the UEFA team sheet, prompting a scramble to discover if, at 20, he was about to become United’s youngest ever skipper.
Soon enough, however, it emerged that the experienced South Korean Park Ji-sung was to wear the armband.
A UEFA typing error? It seems not. ‘Mike Phelan told me that I was going to be captain,’ said Jones afterwards. ‘But it appears the manager meant it to be Park Ji-sung.’
Once the game started, things got no clearer.
United started as they had ended the first in Holland last week — in total control.
Javier Hernandez, looking sharper with every game, scored a sixth-minute goal and United created — and spurned — a smattering of other chances.
With a 3-0 aggregate lead against a team that had looked modest at best in the first leg, the tie really should have been over. As it happened, it wasn’t.
Hernandez’s goal was certainly a good one.
Ajax gave the ball away in the centre of the field, enabling Dimitar Berbatov to slide a super pass through the centre for Hernandez to chase. ‘Little Pea’ still had much to do as Jan Vertonghen closed him down but the Mexican turned inside well on to his left foot and sent Kenneth Vermeer the wrong way from 12 yards.
With so little time gone, Ajax already looked a little forlorn and United could have extended their lead soon after as Fabio da Silva put Hernandez clear down the right side. This time, the striker looked to square the ball for Berbatov, only for Vertonghen to intercept at a crucial moment.
With the Dutch team looking so square at the back, there seemed to be more goals in this for United. That, however, was as good as it got for Ferguson’s team.
Slowly, Ajax drew themselves back into the game on the back of some neat attacking play. United goalkeeper David de Gea saved well from Aras Ozbiliz in the 23rd minute, and the Ajax forward slammed in the equaliser from the edge of the penalty area just before half-time.
Level at the break, United would have been a little disappointed, given how the game had started.
Then things got worse. Ajax drew confidence from their goal and spent much of the second period playing in United’s half.
De Gea saved superbly from a Siem de Jong header midway through the half and seemed to have saved his team from a nervy finale.
But with three minutes left — and shortly after Nani had broken to hit the bar — Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld drifted on to a free-kick from deep to head the winning goal past De Gea from a matter of yards.
In truth, Ajax never came close to scoring again. But Ferguson was left to look a little introspectively at his own part in the night’s events.
‘I have to accept responsibility for picking the wrong team,’ he said.
As for Jones, he suggested that all may not have been as it should have been once United took their early lead.
‘Maybe we were complacent,’ he admitted.
United now move on to a meeting with Athletic Bilbao. The first leg will be at home and United must do better than this.
‘I will pick a more experienced team for that game,’ said Ferguson, tellingly.
By IAN LADYMAN
The bottom line is that they are in the last 16 of the Europa League. The prospect of an all-Manchester final in Bucharest in May remains. It is, after all, the only thing that could possibly make this competition interesting.
However, the 3-2 aggregate scoreline fails to tell the whole story of what turned out to be a peculiar night of football at Old Trafford.
First, the tale of the captain. Phil Jones appeared with the ‘C’ next to his name on the UEFA team sheet, prompting a scramble to discover if, at 20, he was about to become United’s youngest ever skipper.
Soon enough, however, it emerged that the experienced South Korean Park Ji-sung was to wear the armband.
A UEFA typing error? It seems not. ‘Mike Phelan told me that I was going to be captain,’ said Jones afterwards. ‘But it appears the manager meant it to be Park Ji-sung.’
Once the game started, things got no clearer.
United started as they had ended the first in Holland last week — in total control.
Javier Hernandez, looking sharper with every game, scored a sixth-minute goal and United created — and spurned — a smattering of other chances.
With a 3-0 aggregate lead against a team that had looked modest at best in the first leg, the tie really should have been over. As it happened, it wasn’t.
Hernandez’s goal was certainly a good one.
Ajax gave the ball away in the centre of the field, enabling Dimitar Berbatov to slide a super pass through the centre for Hernandez to chase. ‘Little Pea’ still had much to do as Jan Vertonghen closed him down but the Mexican turned inside well on to his left foot and sent Kenneth Vermeer the wrong way from 12 yards.
With so little time gone, Ajax already looked a little forlorn and United could have extended their lead soon after as Fabio da Silva put Hernandez clear down the right side. This time, the striker looked to square the ball for Berbatov, only for Vertonghen to intercept at a crucial moment.
With the Dutch team looking so square at the back, there seemed to be more goals in this for United. That, however, was as good as it got for Ferguson’s team.
Slowly, Ajax drew themselves back into the game on the back of some neat attacking play. United goalkeeper David de Gea saved well from Aras Ozbiliz in the 23rd minute, and the Ajax forward slammed in the equaliser from the edge of the penalty area just before half-time.
Level at the break, United would have been a little disappointed, given how the game had started.
Then things got worse. Ajax drew confidence from their goal and spent much of the second period playing in United’s half.
De Gea saved superbly from a Siem de Jong header midway through the half and seemed to have saved his team from a nervy finale.
But with three minutes left — and shortly after Nani had broken to hit the bar — Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld drifted on to a free-kick from deep to head the winning goal past De Gea from a matter of yards.
In truth, Ajax never came close to scoring again. But Ferguson was left to look a little introspectively at his own part in the night’s events.
‘I have to accept responsibility for picking the wrong team,’ he said.
As for Jones, he suggested that all may not have been as it should have been once United took their early lead.
‘Maybe we were complacent,’ he admitted.
United now move on to a meeting with Athletic Bilbao. The first leg will be at home and United must do better than this.
‘I will pick a more experienced team for that game,’ said Ferguson, tellingly.
By IAN LADYMAN
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