Europa League
FeyenoordFeyenoord1Man UtdManchester United0

Feyenoord 1-0 Man Utd

By Mandeep SangheraBBC Sport
Feyenoord celebrate their goal against Manchester United
Feyenoord have won six games in a row after beating Manchester United

Manchester United produced a lacklustre display as their Europa League campaign began in defeat at Feyenoord.

Jose Mourinho made eight changes from the team beaten by Manchester City and an Anthony Martial shot going wide was their only first-half chance.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic came on for the visitors and headed wide as he failed to turn around his side's fortunes.

Instead, Nicolai Jorgensen, who was offside, crossed for Tonny Vilhena to drive in Feyenoord's late winner.

Ibrahimovic went close to an equaliser with a drilled free-kick but it was saved at the second attempt by former Liverpool keeper Brad Jones.

The defeat means United have lost four successive European away games for the first time.

Relive Feyenoord's win over Manchester United

Pogba's midfield struggles

Paul Pogba
Paul Pogba was part of the France team who lost the Euro 2016 final to Portugal

Paul Pogba, who re-joined United in a world-record £89m move from Juventus in August, had his lack of discipline and positioning heavily criticised by ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragherexternal-link following Saturday's derby defeat by City.

If playing alongside Ander Herrera and Morgan Schniederlin in midfield against Feyenoord was supposed to allow him freedom to display his attacking skills, Pogba failed to take the opportunity to do so.

The France international was a peripheral figure in the first half as he epitomised a lack of urgency and intensity from the visitors.

Pogba pushed further up the pitch after the break and, despite looking a little more threatening as he attempted two long-range shots which went comfortably off target, he could not find the quality to help find a way through the Dutch side's defence.

How did a Rooney-less Man Utd play?

England forward Wayne Rooney has played behind United's main striker so far this season but was rested for this trip.

United boss Jose Mourinho claimed he had other "solutions" for the role but the poor performance of his supporting cast of players can have done little to persuade him of the strength of his other options.

The midfield trio of Herrera, Schneiderlin and Pogba, along with wingers Anthony Martial and Juan Mata, left Marcus Rashford too isolated.

Rashford, who burst on to the scene with two goals in a 5-1 Europa League win over FC Midtjylland on his Manchester United debut in February, struggled as he made his first start of the campaign.

Marcus Rashford (right) had a tough night but was not helped by a lack of service
Marcus Rashford (right) had a tough night but was not helped by a lack of service

He was replaced by Ibrahimovic, who was part of a triple substitution after 63 minutes which also introduced Memphis Depay and Ashley Young, and the Swede gave the attack more of a threat but United still did not look like scoring.

Asked if the players who came in failed to take their chance, Mourinho said: "I don't want to go in that direction. I don't want to personalise. Obviously, some played better than others. It was the first game for some."

On his selection for this coming Sunday's Premier League trip to Watford, the manager added: "We go back to a normal team without so many changes."

Familiar faces come back to haunt United

Eredivise leaders Feyenoord came into the game in good form, having won their opening five league games, scoring 15 and conceding twice in the process.

Managed by former Arsenal and Barcelona left-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst, their team included former Liverpool players Dirk Kuyt, who scored a hat-trick against United in 2011 in his time at Anfield, and Jones.

Keeper Jones had a much quieter evening than he might have expected and the Dutch side could have taken the lead in the first half when Jens Toornstra blazed high when he had time and space to shoot.

They defended with purpose to nullify United's limited threat and were rewarded with Vilhena's goal, even though Jorgensen was clearly offside when he supplied the cross.

Man of the match - Eric Botteghin

Feyenoord centre-back Eric Botteghin
Feyenoord centre-back Eric Botteghin was a forceful presence at the heart of his side's defence

What they said:

Feyenoord manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst: "In the second half you saw that Manchester United want to win with the tempo and the three substitutions, you sensed that they want to leave here with the win.

"At the right moment we scored the goal - a fantastic goal on the counter-attack.

"After that the spirit came in the team and the determination to be there for the last 15 minutes. We fought hard to get the result and after 90 minutes we did."

The stats you need to know

  • Jose Mourinho was managing a side in the Europa League for the first time since winning the competition with Porto in 2003, when it was called the Uefa Cup.
  • Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his first appearance in the competition since November 2001, when he was playing for Ajax.
  • For the first time in their history, Manchester United have lost their opening group game in Europe in consecutive seasons.
  • United have gone six games without a clean sheet in Europe since a 0-0 draw with PSV in November 2015.

What next?

Manchester United are in Premier League action on Sunday, when they travel to Watford for a 12:00 BST kick-off. Feyenoord face a trip to PSV Eindhoven in a top-of-the-table Eredivisie match.

Line-ups

Feyenoord

Formation 4-3-3

  • 25Jones
  • 2KarsdorpSubstituted forNieuwkoopat 90+1'minutes
  • 33Botteghin
  • 6van der HeijdenBooked at 23mins
  • 4Kongolo
  • 8El Ahmadi
  • 7Kuyt
  • 10Vilhena
  • 19BerghuisSubstituted forBasacikogluat 68'minutes
  • 9N Jørgensen
  • 28Toornstra

Substitutes

  • 5Vejinovic
  • 14Basacikoglu
  • 15Woudenberg
  • 20Tapia
  • 26Nieuwkoop
  • 29Kramer
  • 30Hansson

Man Utd

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 1de Gea
  • 36Darmian
  • 3Bailly
  • 12Smalling
  • 5Rojo
  • 21Herrera
  • 28Schneiderlin
  • 8MataSubstituted forYoungat 63'minutes
  • 6Pogba
  • 11MartialSubstituted forDepayat 63'minutes
  • 19RashfordSubstituted forIbrahimovicat 63'minutes

Substitutes

  • 7Depay
  • 9Ibrahimovic
  • 16Carrick
  • 18Young
  • 20Romero
  • 24Fosu-Mensah
  • 27Fellaini
Referee:
Jesús Gil Manzano
Attendance:
31,000

Match Stats

Home TeamFeyenoordAway TeamMan Utd
Possession
Home43%
Away57%
Shots
Home8
Away18
Shots on Target
Home3
Away4
Corners
Home4
Away4
Fouls
Home22
Away6

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, Feyenoord 1, Manchester United 0.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, Feyenoord 1, Manchester United 0.

  3. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Eric Bailly (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Memphis Depay with a cross.

  4. Post update

    Corner, Manchester United. Conceded by Terence Kongolo.

  5. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

  6. Post update

    Attempt saved. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.

  7. Substitution

    Substitution, Feyenoord. Bart Nieuwkoop replaces Rick Karsdorp.

  8. Post update

    Marcos Rojo (Manchester United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  9. Post update

    Foul by Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord).

  10. Post update

    Attempt missed. Marcos Rojo (Manchester United) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.

  11. Post update

    Memphis Depay (Manchester United) wins a free kick on the left wing.

  12. Post update

    Foul by Rick Karsdorp (Feyenoord).

  13. Post update

    Attempt missed. Ashley Young (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right following a set piece situation.

  14. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Chris Smalling (Manchester United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

  15. Post update

    Ander Herrera (Manchester United) wins a free kick on the left wing.

  16. Post update

    Foul by Nicolai Jørgensen (Feyenoord).

  17. Post update

    Morgan Schneiderlin (Manchester United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  18. Post update

    Foul by Nicolai Jørgensen (Feyenoord).

  19. Post update

    Matteo Darmian (Manchester United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  20. Post update

    Foul by Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord).

Scores, Results & Fixtures

Thursday 15th September 2016

As It Stood

A

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Feyenoord11001013
2Fenerbahçe10101101
3Zorya Luhansk10101101
4Man Utd100101-10

B

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Apoel Nicosia11002113
2Olympiakos11001013
3FC Astana100112-10
4BSC Young Boys100101-10

C

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Anderlecht11003123
2Saint-Étienne10101101
3Mainz10101101
4FK Qabala100113-20

D

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Zenit St Petersburg11004313
2Dundalk10101101
3AZ Alkmaar10101101
4Maccabi Tel-Aviv100134-10

E

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Austria Vienna11003213
2Roma10101101
3Viktoria Plzen10101101
4Astra Giurgiu100123-10

F

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Sassuolo11003033
2Rapid Vienna11003213
3KRC Genk100123-10
4Ath Bilbao100103-30

G

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Ajax11002113
2Celta Vigo10101101
3Standard Liege10101101
4Panathinaikos100112-10

H

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Shakhtar Donetsk11001013
2KAA Gent10101101
3Sporting Braga10101101
4Konyaspor100101-10

I

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Schalke11001013
2FK Krasnodar11001013
3RB Salzburg100101-10
4Nice100101-10

J

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Slovan Liberec10102201
2FK Qarabag10102201
3Fiorentina10100001
4PAOK Salonika10100001

K

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Southampton11003033
2Hapoel Be'er Sheva11002023
3Inter Milan100102-20
4Sparta Prague100103-30

L

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Osmanlispor11002023
2Villarreal11002113
3FC Zürich100112-10
4FCSB100102-20
View full Europa League tables

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