Sporting Life
Jesse Lingard in action during Manchester United's Europa league defeat against Astana
Jesse Lingard in action during Manchester United's Europa league defeat against Astana

Astana 2-1 Man United: Young Red Devils suffer first Europa League defeat in Kazakhstan

By Sporting Life
Football
Thu November 28, 2019 · 6y ago

Manchester United suffered their first Europa League defeat of the season as their youthful side lost 2-1 against Astana in Kazakhstan.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took a young, inexperienced squad on the long trip to Kazakhstan with the Red Devils already safely through but, and they took the lead through stand-in skipper Jesse Lingard.

Dmitri Shomko equalised for the hosts though, and an own goal from Di'Shon Bernard condemned the visitors to a first defeat of their European campaign.

Teenagers Ethan Laird, Di'Shon Bernard and Dylan Levitt were included in the starting line-up for their Manchester United debuts - with the trio taking their place alongside 36-year-old goalkeeper Lee Grant, who was handed his first United start in Kazakhstan.

Luke Shaw, Axel Tuanzebe and Jesse Lingard get much-needed minutes, while cancer survivor Max Taylor was named on the bench.

United went ahead in the 10th minute through their stand-in skipper, with Lingard finding the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Lingard fired wide and had a shot deflected over as he led from the front for United, who had a 1-0 lead at half-time.

United should have doubled their lead in the 55th minute but Tahith Chong fired over with the goal at his mercy. And they were punished a minute later as Dmitri Shomko equalised for Astana, firing low past Grant.

Astana's turnaround was complete in the 61st minute, as Antonio Rukavina's cross was deflected into his own net by Bernard.

Nenad Eric produced fine saves from Angel Gomes and Mason Greenwood as United looked for a leveller.

Astana held on to secure a 2-1 win and condemn United to their first Europa League defeat of the season.

FC Astana 2-1 Manchester United - Opta stats

  • Manchester United have lost a European match in which they scored the first goal for the first time in 25 such games (W20 D4) since losing 1-2 at FC Midtjylland in the Europa League last 32 in February 2016.
  • This result ended a run of 15 Europa League games without defeat for Manchester United (W10 D5), and was their first in the competition since going down 1-2 at Fenerbahçe in the 2016-17 group stage.
  • Astana ended a run of six consecutive defeats in the Europa League, scoring more goals tonight (two) than they did in each of those six previous matches in the competition combined (one).
  • Jesse Lingard scored just his second goal of 2019 for Manchester United, and his first in 29 appearances in all competitions since netting against Arsenal in the FA Cup in January, 307 days ago.
  • Dmitriy Shomko’s goal for Astana was the first Manchester United conceded in the Europa League in exactly eight and a half hours of play since Facundo Roncaglia's strike against them for Celta Vigo in the 2017 semi-final.
  • Manchester United have scored three own goals in their last 10 matches across all European competitions, this after having not scored one in 61 such games beforehand.
  • With an average age of 22 years and 26 days old, Manchester United’s starting XI for this game was the youngest they have ever named for a match in major European competition (excluding qualifiers).

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