Wolfsburg bow Man Utd out of Champions League

Chelsea sits atop Group G, tied with Porto on 10 points, and the struggling Blues will have to face the Portuguese club in the final group game, with Dynamo Kiev just two points behind. A 3-2 loss at Wolfsburg on Tuesday ensured that the Red Devils would miss out on the knockout stages yet again, a latest humiliation for the club caught in decline since the retirement of manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2013.

Anthony Martial’s 10th-minute strike had given United the ideal start before Wolfsburg wrested back the initiative with two classy first-half goals from Naldo (13) and Vieirinha (29).

An area of the Volkswagen Arena vehicle park was closed off and fans were eventually allowed to leave by designated routes to the north and south of the stadium.

The home side hit back two minutes later, as Rodriguez’s found Naldo 12-yards out and the defender fired past David De Gea with a fine volley. However, it still wasn’t panic time for United.

PSV Eindhoven’s 2-1 win over CSKA Moscow on the same night meant United tumbled out of the Champions League for an unwanted reunion with the Europa League.

“At the moment I can’t defend myself because we’re out of the Champions League and every word I say is the wrong one”, he said.

Kenny Cunningham believes Manchester United’s first goal against Wolfsburg tonight should provide a “eureka moment” for the team.

Vieirinha’s goal then turned the game on its head with a third of the game played, but Louis van Gaal’s team thought they had secured their progression when Joshua Guilavogui looped a header over his own goalkeeper with eight minutes left. With a draw in the other match, United would have still gone through.

But they were level for just a matter of seconds as Naldo was left unmarked from a corner and headed inside the near post.

Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid clinched the top spot in Group C with a 2-1 victory at Benfica, which came second in Group C, as Galatasaray booked its place in the Europa League with a draw against Astana.

For the third time in five years, the UEFA Champions League will proceed without United after the holidays. You don’t want to come out of your house, you don’t want to walk around Manchester, people looking at you and thinking you’re not good enough, questioning you as an individual.

As for the depth issue, the obvious – if not always immediately effective – solution is to splash cash in the January transfer window.

Given that Borthwick-Jackson was a preferred choice to the vastly more experienced Ashley Young shows just how much faith Van Gaal has in the teenager who could be seeing much more first-team action given the full-back crisis at Old Trafford. They need established players.

Champions League elimination will no doubt see United attempt to focus more on the Premier League, a season in which one of four clubs could feasibly claim the title, yet only Leicester City are playing with an intent to actually win the crown this season.

The next question is who gets to spend that cash.

Van Gaal already had problems at the full-back position and was forced to hand 22-year-old right-back Guillermo Varela his full-debut.

Desperate defending from Wolfsburg in the dying stages kept United out as the Premier League side piled on the pressure, but to no avail.