Wednesday 9 December 2015 13:09, UK
Manchester United are out of the Champions League after a 3-2 defeat at Wolfsburg.
Anthony Martial had given the visitors the lead on Tuesday night, but goals from Naldo and Vieirinha turned the game around.
Jesse Lingard saw a goal ruled out for offside before a Josuha Guilavogui own goal levelled the scores. But Naldo responded immediately with his second of the game to send United into the Europa League.
Here, we round up five talking points from the game...
United crash out
United didn't go out with a whimper. They fired 16 shots at Wolfsburg's goal, disputed a disallowed equaliser, sparked late drama and, after all of that, twists and turns in the match between PSV and CSKA Moscow appeared to have thrown qualification in their favour. But, with the final whistle, Louis van Gaal's side are bound for the Europa League after finishing third in their group.
For all of the swings in momentum on Tuesday night, United's entire group stage campaign now demands attention. Favourites to win their pool when the draw was made, United have managed just two wins from six games.
Their defeat at Wolfsburg was just the second time they had managed to score more than once, while an uninspiring 0-0 draw at home to PSV left them facing a high-pressure, all-or-nothing trip to Germany.
United had not been drawn against Europe's heavyweights. PSV are currently third in the Dutch top flight, four points off the leaders. Wolfsburg are fifth in the Bundesliga, a massive 15 points behind Bayern Munich. Both will be in the hat for Monday's draw, while United contemplate Thursday night games from February.
"It's not good enough," Tony Gale told Sky Sports News HQ. "They will be gutted, but it is their own fault as when the draw was made, that looked to be an easy group. You should really be cruising through that group and probably qualify with two games to go, resting players with the Premier League in mind. And the old United would have done that."
Lingard goal rightly ruled out
Jesse Lingard looked to have pulled United level at 2-2 on the stroke of half-time when his long-range shot drifted in at the far corner. The youngster wheeled away in celebration, only for the linesman to eventually flag for offside against Juan Mata.
Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ryan Giggs protested passionately and Van Gaal criticised the call after the game - but, following a summer law change, the linesman had got it right. Mata had avoided touching the ball but his presence in the box forced Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio to hesitate.
Europa League impact
A third-place finish in the group means Manchester United enter Europe's second competition at the round-of-32 stage in February. Their Thursday night duties will affect their Premier League and FA Cup fixtures and Gale reckons the contest could have a negative impact on a potential title challenge.
"They do not need the Europa League," he said. "Spurs have had it for years and it has really been a bugbear for them. But Spurs are a fitter side than Manchester United and I do not know how they are going to cope with it.
"United fans are going to expect them to win that. Whatever competition you go in with Manchester United, you have to win it."
Not so boring Man Utd?
United did at least offer more in an attacking sense against Wolfsburg than they have done recently.
Anthony Martial found the net after scoring just once in his previous 16 games for club and country, Memphis Depay whipped a fine free-kick inches wide of the upright as United searched for an equaliser and blocks from Marcel Schafer and Christian Trasch in quick succession denied goal-bound efforts from Chris Smalling and Lingard late on.
United had six shots on target, saw six efforts blocked and produced almost three times the number of crosses of Wolfsburg. There was drama at the other end, too, with David de Gea forced into four saves, including a stunner to deny Julian Draxler.
United's travelling support at Bournemouth will hope the entertainment continues on Saturday night.
Wolfsburg turn on the style
Manchester United conceded as many goals to Wolfsburg in the first 30 minutes on Tuesday as they had in their previous nine games in all competitions. However, while there were defensive errors, the class of Wolfsburg's attacking deserves credit.
Centre-back Naldo - allowed space by Smalling - superbly volleyed Ricardo Rodriguez's free-kick past De Gea to level the scores on 13 minutes.
Draxler then showed why Wolfsburg paid big money for his services in the summer, bringing down Andre Schurrle's cross-field pass, beating two men, playing a one-two with Maximilian Arnold to enter the United box and then squaring to Vieirinha for the simplest of finishes.
And Naldo rounded off the scoring with a powerful header from a corner. Wolfsburg's opponents in the round of 16 will have to be prepared.
