Manchester United made several changes, played poorly, created little and were caught on the break by a hard-working Feyenoord
8.10pm BST
And with that, I’m off. It’s been … well … frankly a little dull, but not without its memorable moments. Bye!
Related: José Mourinho says Manchester United deserved more after Feyenoord defeat
Related: Tonny Vilhena edges Feyenoord past much-changed Manchester United
8.08pm BST
Mourinho has spoken!
Of course I’m unhappy, especially because I think we lose the game precisely in the moment we don’t deserve to lose. In the second half we were always in control. We were trying to win, they were trying not to lose, and precisely in the moment we were feeling they were collapsing, it’s exactly in that moment that we lose the game. And double unlucky because he was offside.
The second half was better than the first. We had more intensity. The first half was 45 minutes where my players were in control but not really pushing to try. The second half we brought different intensity to try to win. They defend with great spirit, we know that. We know that in the Europa League we’re going to be the team everybody wants to play against.
8.04pm BST
Mourinho may have spoken pre-match about his, and United’s, lack of motivation, but his scowl at its end suggested he was motivated enough.
7.57pm BST
Zorya and Fenerbahce have drawn 1-1, so Feyenoord top Group A, and United sit at its foot.
7.56pm BST
Paul Scholes on BT: "I'm not worried. United will cruise through this group." Might just make a note of that..
7.56pm BST
Feyenoord were well drilled, worked hard, had absolute control of their defensive third more or less throughout, and created two fine chances, one of which they took, which is two more than United.
7.54pm BST
The home fans launch immediately into a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, as their players cavort around the pitch, milking their adulation.
7.53pm BST
90+4 mins: But there’ll be no time to take the second corner! The referee blows his whistle, United’s players scream in impotent fury, and Feyenoord have won!
7.52pm BST
90+4 mins: United win a corner. De Gea comes up for it. The ball goes into the mixer, and out of play again, apparently off a defender …
7.52pm BST
90+3 mins: The ball is passed to Bilal, with lots of pitch in front of him, but with Darmian closing in he controls it – literally attempts to bring it under control – 40 yards out of play.
7.51pm BST
90+1 mins: United win a free kick 25 yards out, and Ibrahimovic slams it low and very hard towards goal. Jones was always going to save it, but he does brilliantly to keep it in his hands with blue shirts screaming in to pounce on any rebound.
7.50pm BST
90+1 mins: Cramp-suffering Karsdorp is going off, and Bart Nieuwkoop is on.
7.49pm BST
90+1 mins: We’re into stoppage time, and the referee wants three minutes of it.
7.48pm BST
89 mins: Rick Karsdorp goes down with cramp. The referee runs over and tells him to get up, which he eventually does.
7.47pm BST
88 mins: Now he does give a free kick, wide on the left. Memphis kicks it over everyone and out for a goal kick.
7.46pm BST
87 mins: Pogba dives over Van der Heijden’s leg just outside the penalty area, and for once the referee doesn’t blow his whistle.
7.45pm BST
86 mins: And United go route one. Their latest hoof is flicked by Ibrahimovic to Smalling, who is closed down while he spins and before he can shoot but the ball rolls to Young, who shoots over.
7.44pm BST
85 mins: Smalling has joined Ibrahimovic in a new-look front line.
7.43pm BST
84 mins: Feyenoord continue to break when they’ve got a chance, though their latest attempt ended when Kongolo shoved Bailly.
Disaster for @ManUtd as @Feyenoord take the lead. #UEL https://t.co/CeNsTHUUYq
7.41pm BST
82 mins: There is now a compelling air of mild panic about both United’s attacking and Feyenoord’s defending, which is a bonus.
This is all a bit Louis Van Gaal
7.40pm BST
81 mins: In the build-up to the goal Jorgensen was slightly, but certainly, offside. And he was standing about a yard from the linesman at the time.
7.38pm BST
We’ve had a shot on target! Incredible scenes! And De Gea was so surprised he let it in! Jorgensen runs down the right, spots Vilhena sprinting towards the area, pulls the ball back and the low shot finds the bottom corner!
7.37pm BST
78 mins: All the long-distance off-target efforts we’ve seen today – and there have been many – have just been put very firmly into the shade by Memphis Depay, whose shot from 25 yards flies 35 yards wide and 40 yards high.
7.34pm BST
75 mins: Young is fouled on the right, and from his free kick Ibrahimovic reaches the ball first but it flicks off his head and goes wide.
7.33pm BST
74 mins: United appear to be trying harder to score, which in turn makes them more likely to concede. A simple long pass sets Bilal and Jorgensen on the attack, but they’re too close together meaning that, when Bilal gets the ball, he doesn’t really have anyone to pass to and has to, yes, shoot wide from distance.
7.32pm BST
73 mins: “Two hours ago you wrote: ‘The game will be watched by an unusually small crowd, punishment for crowd trouble that disrupted Feyenoord’s game against Roma last season,’” notes Justin Kavanagh. “You lied Simon—the real punishment is being meted out to those allowed in.”
7.30pm BST
72 mins: Jorgensen gets the ball in the area, shuffles around a bit, eventually manages to turn but then shoots at a defender.
7.30pm BST
71 mins: “Looking at the photos from this game and deciding that we really are overdue for an advancement in captain’s armband technology, aren’t we?” writes Tony Martins. “Why do they always looks so clunky and uncomfortable?” I think it says everything about the entertainment on offer here that it has prompted someone to think about armband technology instead. I’ve never given a moment’s thought to armband technology (and neither, to judge by the lack of advances in the area, has anyone else).
7.28pm BST
70 mins: Feyenoord get a chance to break, but Kuyt’s pass to Bilal is overhit and flies out of play.
7.27pm BST
67 mins: The BT Sport commentators are musing on Berghuis’s lack of impact at Watford last season. In fact he was stubbornly and criminally underused by a manager who didn’t believe in playing wingers on wings, and looked really bright in flashes when given brief chances to show his stuff towards the end of the season. There was, in particular, a brilliant, goal-providing cross against Aston Villa. Anyway, there’ll be none of that tonight as he’s just gone off, and Bilal Basacikoglu, who I’m apparently allowed to refer to simply as Bilal, is on.
7.24pm BST
65 mins: Young does indeed get forward and cross from the right, but Ibrahimovic doesn’t so much lean on the nearest defender as hitch a ride, and it’s another free kick.
7.24pm BST
65 mins: So that’s United’s entire front three swapped. Young may at least provide some genuine width in the attacking third.
7.22pm BST
63 mins: Martial, Rashford and Mata go off.
7.21pm BST
62 mins: Pogba is the latest to send a long-distance effort wide.
7.21pm BST
62 mins: Mourinho has had enough, and is readying not one, not even two, but three substitutions – Depay, Young and Ibrahimovic are all coming on.
7.20pm BST
60 mins: Trindade is the latest to send a long-distance effort wide.
7.18pm BST
59 mins: The defending of which isn’t exactly exemplary, but Feyenoord get away with it and eventually a defender boots the ball into an attacker, it rebounds out of play and Feyenoord get a goal kick.
7.17pm BST
59 mins: Rashford goes on a run into the penalty area, gets to the byline and is then closed down by two defenders, winning a corner.
7.16pm BST
56 mins: This is really rubbish entertainment. Neither side appears to have an real idea how to score a goal. El Ahmadi has at least had a shot, from distance (inevitably) and wide (likewise).
7.13pm BST
54 mins: Botteghin puts a hand on Rashford’s neck, and the Englishman collapses as if his legs had been taken away. Free kick, obvs.
7.09pm BST
51 mins: United play keep-ball for a while, and then Pogba blasts the ball well high of goal with his left foot from 25 yards.
7.07pm BST
49 mins: There has been a tactical switch at the interval, with Martial moving to the middle and Rashford on the left.
7.05pm BST
46 mins: Peeeep! They’re off again! And Herrera has the half’s first shot, from 30-odd yards, about 15 seconds in. It’s not on target. No changes for either side at the break.
7.03pm BST
Mourinho comes out for the second half all by himself, with the rest of the team following a minute or so later.
6.58pm BST
“It’s great to see Giovanni van Bronckhorst doing well as a manager,” writes Peter Oh. “My most recent and vivid memory of him as a player was his cruise missile of a goal for Holland against Uruguay in a 2010 World Cup semifinal. Do you see any sign of a Feyenoord player on the pitch today who is capable of a long-distance screamer like that?” Berghuis probably looks the most likely to have a go, but I’m not sure whether he can do that.
6.55pm BST
Half-time summary for United: could do better. Much better. On the plus side, um, the grass is nice.
6.48pm BST
45+1 mins: And in the end the referee doesn’t even finish it, deciding that the ball rolling gently across the halfway line is too good an opportunity to waste and blowing his whistle a few seconds early.
6.47pm BST
45+1 mins: There will only be a minute of stoppage time.
6.47pm BST
45 mins: Now United attack, and Rashford heads Darmian’s cross far enough wide of goal for Mata to very nearly turn it in.
6.45pm BST
43 mins: Feyenoord are controlling possession to an almost embarrassing extent at the moment. They’ve spent the last few minutes passing the ball about as they please, but eventually Berghuis is caught offside.
6.44pm BST
40 mins: Proper oooh! Kongolo gets the ball on the left, cuts past Darmian with embarrassing ease and then passes across the area into space, where a team-mate runs on to the ball, has time to realise that this is going to be the best chance of the half, panics and wallops it into the crowd.
6.41pm BST
39 mins: Feyenoord win a corner, and then another corner, and then another one after that. One of them hit Jorgensen in the chest and bounced not far wide, touching Smalling on the way, allowing the very vocal crowd to go “ooh”.
6.40pm BST
37 mins: This is all a bit scrappy and disjointed at present, but for the last few minutes it has been the home side attacking, without ever getting the ball into United’s penalty area. They did on one occasion hit Smalling in the arm, but the referee for once – and rightly – didn’t blow his whistle.
6.34pm BST
33 mins: Rashford goes down under the very slightest challenge from Botteghin, winning a free kick in the centre circle. It’s just so easy to win free kicks here that there’s little incentive for anyone to do anything else.
6.30pm BST
29 mins: Berghuis wins a free-kick on the right, and the referee blows his whistle – I counted – nine times before they take it. It’s emphatically overhit straight into touch.
6.29pm BST
27 mins: United look like a good team playing the wrong formation. The midfield is overcrowded, and Rashford is taking the phrase “lone frontman” to its logical extreme.
6.26pm BST
25 mins: Oooh! Darmian crosses low from the right, picking out Martial on the edge of the area. The Frenchman’s first touch is excellent, giving him room to shoot, but the shot zips just wide of the near post.
6.25pm BST
23 mins: Van der Heijden gets booked for the challenge that led to Mata’s writhing, which was a half-hearted semi-rugby-tackle – a pair of arms across the chest.
6.24pm BST
22 mins: Now Mata’s on the pitch, writhing around and clutching a calf, but everyone ignores him and he eventually gets up.
6.23pm BST
21 mins: A heart-in-mouth moment for United, as Kongolo crosses well from the left, and the ball heads towards Berghuis at the far post. He doesn’t win it, though, and the referee thinks he was a bit rough with Marcos Rojo in trying to, so he blows his whistle again.
6.22pm BST
20 mins: The referee is much better at blowing whistles than he is at tossing coins. He gives Feyenoord a free kick because Smalling won a header, and when they take it quickly he calls them back, with much peeping at all stages.
6.21pm BST
19 mins: Martial passes to Pogba, who sees Eric Botteghin coming, shifts his body to make sure it’s in his way, and wins a free kick. It’s taken short, chipped into the box and bounces out of play.
6.19pm BST
17 mins: … and Pogba shoots, but while it’s on target Jones saves comfortably.
6.18pm BST
17 mins: Bailly is back on, but still limping. United, meanwhile, have a free kick, 25 yards out. Pogba stands over it …
6.17pm BST
16 mins: “Totally agree with you regarding the non-existence of any clear rules for the toss,” writes Mayur Gupta. “I still remember the cricket World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka in 2011 and the chaos the toss had that it had to be re-done. The referee had no clue what to do in such a situation. Absolutely pathetic at that level – it’s the world cup final for god’s sake!” There’s video footage of that toss here, but here’s an explainer:
6.16pm BST
14 mins: There’s been a delay here after Bailly was tripped by Terence Kongolo and stayed down, apparently in pain.
6.12pm BST
11 mins: Berghuis cuts in from the right again, and this time he shoots left-footed towards the far post, but De Gea gets down to claim the ball.
6.12pm BST
10 mins: The Guardian’s obvious joke dept has been in touch to point out that you would of course expect the Dutch to have some decent grass.
6.11pm BST
9 mins: Given how beautiful the grass is, if Mourinho’s to be believed, the ball hasn’t spent much time on it. But now Berghuis cuts in from the right wing and plays a lovely low pass to Toornstra, who has way too much space on the other side of the penalty area, but Darmian gets over in time to block his shot.
6.08pm BST
6 mins: Rashford passes to Herrera, lurking on the edge of the Feyenoord area, but Jens Toornstra scurries over, gets there first, and boshes the ball blindly upfield in a semi-comic manner.
6.07pm BST
5 mins: Feyenoord keep winning the ball, passing it around their defence a bit and then hoicking it straight to De Gea.
6.06pm BST
5 mins: This is hilarious, but by some way a better toss than Jesús Gil Manzano managed.
https://t.co/GFJOK3JPLp @Simon_Burnton check this out for a coin toss debacle
6.04pm BST
3 mins: Mourinho has started taking notes. He’s obviously expecting a lot of them, to judge by his new and extremely thick notepad.
6.02pm BST
1 min: Peeeeeep! Feyenoord get the match under way, pass the ball around their defence briefly, then give it straight to De Gea so United’s defence can pass it around a bit themselves.
6.02pm BST
The coin toss just took place. If I’d been involved I’d have demanded that the referee toss again. It was a pathetic effort. I think the “coin” – in fact a disc of two-tone plastic – simply flipped once. It barely left the Spaniard’s hands. There should be rules for these things.
5.58pm BST
The players come out of – up from, really, since there’s a staircase involved – the tunnel. Game very nearly on!
5.56pm BST
On his way off the pitch for his final pre-match briefing, Paul Pogba came to the BT Sport punditry crew and gave Paul Scholes a hearty hug. Bless.
5.55pm BST
The game will be watched by an unusually small crowd, punishment for crowd trouble that disrupted Feyenoord’s game against Roma last season.
5.49pm BST
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has also had a little pre-match chinwag:
It’s a big challenge for us as a club, to be playing against one of the biggest teams in the world, against quality players, against a coach who has won everything. It’s a great challenge for us and we’re looking forward to the game.
We have quite some experience in the team, but we also have quite a few players it’s one of the first big games they’re going to play. You’re looking for the experienced players to help the guys and make sure we’re capable of getting a result today.
5.46pm BST
“Looks like Pogba is finally going to be freed from his shackles,” writes John Glynn. “Expect some fireworks!” Yes, it looks like he’ll have a bit more freedom to attack, with Schneiderlin and Herrera behind him, but then that means he’ll be almost expected to excel, which is a different sort of burden.
5.40pm BST
José Mourinho has had a pre-match chat to BT Sport, and this is (most of) what he said, starting with memories of the 2003 Uefa Cup final:
Time flies. But memories are still very fresh. In that beautiful day for me, it was my first European competition and in the season we won it we were all very young, myself and the players. Since then I was lucky enough not to be back to the Uefa Cup or Europa League. It happened this time, but we have to motivate ourselves. We have to understand that this is our competition this season, and it is a competition we want to face in a serious way, with proper ambition.
We need to play well. For some of these players that are playing today, it is a chance for me to rotate but it is more than justice for them to play, but I still have on the bench Young, Carrick, Depay, boys who deserve to play and I am still waiting to let them do that.
5.27pm BST
“Thoughts turn inevitably to Dirk Kuyt’s 2011 hat trick against Manchester United,” writes Marie Meyere. “As I recall, the ball travelled a sum total of 8 yards.” Here’s a refresher:
Related: Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United | Premier League match report
5.20pm BST
Turns out the pennants pictured at the top of this page (at the time of writing (this picture will change, but there’s a little version here) were not, as in the caption supplied by Reuters, “merchandise”, but a free gift to all spectators. Thanks Feyenoord!
@Simon_Burnton the banner is a gift from the club to ALL the fans in the stadium, not merchandise
5.11pm BST
Here’s the official Uefa-endorsed matchday team sheet:
5.09pm BST
And so begins Manchester United’s Europa League campaign, and while we wait for the team sheets to be released we know the English side will be without Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia, Luke Shaw and Jesse Lingard, all of whom have been left at home by José Mourinho, who is more worried about Sunday’s Premier League match at Watford. Feyenoord, top of the Eredivisie with a 100% record after five matches and running at an average three goals a game, have a handful of familiar faces in their squad, including the former Middlesbrough and Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Jones, ageing but indefatigable workhorse Dirk Kuyt and the Watford winger Steven Berghuis, on loan for the season. Starting line-ups to follow extremely shortly. In the meantime, welcome!
11.44am BST
Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Paul MacInnes on Dirk Kuyt, who’s been channelling James Brown it seems: “I feel good. I feel ready for Manchester United. Fifteen points from five games and now this cracker. Let it be a beautiful night.”
Related: Feyenoord bank on 'demigod' Dirk Kuyt to help stun Manchester United
This is not a competition that Manchester United wants. It is not a competition I want, it is not a competition the players want. It is a competition where we are and that’s the reality.
Related: José Mourinho claims Europa League hurts Manchester United’s title chances
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