Manchester United: What do Louis van Gaal's team need to do to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League?

A win would guarantee progress to the knockout stages

Tom Sheen
Monday 07 December 2015 11:14 GMT
Comments
(Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Manchester United are facing an uphill battle to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League after drawing at home to PSV Eindhoven in the last round of fixtures.

Louis van Gaal's team sit second in Group B with eight points, one fewer than Wolfsburg and one more than PSV.

United travel to Germany on Tuesday night to face a Wolfsburg team that caused them problems at Old Trafford in September, although the home side eventually won 2-1.

A win would guarantee Van Gaal's team, without a victory in their last three, a top place finish in the Group.

Failing to win makes things rather more complicated and takes their destiny out of their own hands.

A draw would mean that United can only finish second in the group and will be relying on bottom side CSKA Moscow to get a win in the Netherlands.

If United draw and PSV win then Van Gaal's side will ended up in the Europa League. If United draw and PSV also draw then United would still end up in the Europa League as head-to-head records trump goal difference.

United lost 2-1 to PSV in September, in the game that Luke Shaw suffered his horrific injury.

If Van Gaal's team lose then they can still qualify for the knockout stages, but only if CSKA win.

CSKA's only win in five matches of Group B came at home to PSV in September.

Wolfsburg have slumped in form recently, winning just three of their last eight matches in all competitions. However, they have been particularly strong at the Volkswagen Arena, going 29 matches unbeaten in all competitions before losing to Borussia Dortmund there on Saturday.

Van Gaal will also be without a number of options because of a growing injury list.

Morgan Schneiderlin and Wayne Rooney will be on the sidelines along with Ander Herrera, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Shaw.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in