What United Need To Do To Guarantee Champions League Knockout Round Qualification

What United Need To Do To Guarantee Champions League Knockout Round Qualification

So Manchester United travel to Germany to face VfL Wolfsburg tonight in a 7.45pm kick-off with it all on the line as far as their Champions League prospects go. They currently sit 2nd in Group B but are only in 2nd by a point over PSV Eindhoven who sit in 3rd spot after their 0-0 stalemate at Old Trafford on matchday five.

Simply put, Man United must beat Wolfsburg tonight if they want to ensure Champions League knockout round qualification and if they lose or draw the Dutch side will go through if they beat CSKA Moscow and United will fall out of the Champions League for this season. United can get through if they draw against Wolfsburg but only if PSV draw or lose to the Russian side. Confusing I know but quite simply – United really need to win for the sake of the Champions League knockout round and their fans’ sanity at this point and it would be nice if they scored a few goals too!

As the Guardian are reporting, United are facing a number of injuries ahead of the Wolfsburg clash with 7 first team players out. Long term casualties are Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia (likely both out for the season), Captain Wayne Rooney is out with an ankle problem sustained vs Leicester a couple of weeks back, Morgan Schneiderlin is out with a hip injury, while Marcus Rojo is on the sidelines again after dislocating his shoulder in training and Phil Jones and Ander Herrera both miss out through ankle and hamstring issues respectively.


As a result of all these injuries, Louis Van Gaal has had to dip deep into his resources and has added a bunch of youngsters to the squad with Paddy McNair named along with Guillermo Varela, plus Nick Powell (after only having played a solitary game for United over the past 3 years) and midfielder Sean Goss (21 years old and yet to make his debut) and recent debutee 18-year-old defender Cameron Borthwick-Jackson are also included.

So United have it all to do and with a severely weakened and inexperienced squad too. Let’s hope for a miracle and that United’s more experienced players can help guide the youngsters to an unlikely looking win.