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Manchester United succumbed to a 3-2 defeat to VFL Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena, thus nixing their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League this season. PSV ran out 2-1 winners in the corresponding group A match against CSKA Moscow, which was the final nail in the coffin for the Manchester-based club.
Martial opened the scoring for Red Devils in the tenth minute, but a couple of goals from Wolfsburg centre-back Naldo, one in the first half and another in the second, and a Vierinha goal was enough to send United packing, who got their second through Guilavogui’s own-goal late in the second half.
Here are a few thoughts from players, managers, and pundits all over the world:
Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal: “I cannot defend myself because we are out of the Champions League.
“When you see the facts - we went further in the Capital One Cup, qualified for the Champions League group, we have played all these matches and are still in a very good position in the league, the facts say we are better than last year. I'm also disappointed that we are out of the Champions League.
“It was a crazy match. We score the goals, they are cancelling the goals. We had chances they also had chances. When we score they score after two minutes. We fought for the win, we couldn't have done more than we have done.
“It is strange but OK it happened also in Eindhoven. And within 10 minutes they taking the lead, so that's football.
When quizzed that did he share fan’s view that the group was an easy one for United, he said: “This was a tight group so I am not agreeing with any opinion that this was an easy group.”
Rio Ferdinand: “You look at the league table and just expect Man Utd to walk through that. To have spent that much and have it to go to the last game, you can understand the fans' disappointment.
“At this level, you don’t defend you get punished.
“They’ve not been good enough through the course of this campaign. They can’t think of themselves as unlucky.”
On United playing in Europa League: “It’s an embarrassment to be in it. You don’t want to walk out of your own house.”
Paul Scholes: “You'd have to say they've not bought as well as they could have done. When you're relying on a 19/20 year old to score all your goals... that's where they've failed. Martial lacks that killer instinct but United should not be relying on a 19 year old when they've spent £250million.
“It doesn’t feel like a disaster, as I’m not surprised. It’s in a group that’s shocking. Will these two teams get into the quarter finals? I don’t think so.”
“You have to say the young players did well and for the first time in a while, it was an exciting game to watch.”
Michael Owen: “I don't look at it and just think this season, I look at the last 18 months and it's £250million he's spent. They got stuffed by MK Dons, they got knocked out the FA Cup by Arsenal. It's 18 months of below par, with all that money. I think [Louis Van Gaal] is under severe pressure.”
Peter Schmeichel:
Luke Shaw:
Marouane Fellaini: “I think we created a lot of chances to win this game tonight," he told MUTV. "In the box, they defended well and their goalkeeper also did well. The luck was not there today. I think my chance was a big one to score, but their goalkeeper made a great save. The last ten minutes we played with ten men, with eleven it was not easy but with ten it was more difficult.
“They scored three goals, two from set pieces, so I think we should have defended better; more tight and more aggressive. It is difficult for us and we are disappointed. We can look back [at the group stage]; we should have won against PSV in the first game in Holland and then we drew against PSV at home. But we now have to forget this disappointment, pick ourselves up very quickly and focus on the next game.”
Former Manchester United player Danny Higginbotham:
Former Manchester City player Rodney Marsh:
