As it happenedended1475183448

Manchester United vs Zorya as it happened: Zlatan Ibrahimovic spares Jose Mourinho's blushes

Follow live coverage of Thursday's clash at Old Trafford

Samuel Lovett
Thursday 29 September 2016 15:28 BST
Ibrahimovic headed home at the far post
Ibrahimovic headed home at the far post

Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Thursday’s Europa League clash between Manchester United and Zorya Luhansk.

Manchester United vs Zorya Luhansk

Kick-off: 8.05pm

Manchester United news: Jose Mourinho considers leaving Wayne Rooney out for Europa League clash with Zorya Luhansk

Old Trafford is Juan Mata's natural habitat, says Jose Mourinho ahead of Zorya Luhansk clash

Manchester United news: Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera cannot be trusted in midfield yet, says Gary Neville

Manchester United: Joey Barton was once tricked into believing that Sir Alex Ferguson wanted him

Follow minute-by-minute updates with our live blog below…

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Thursday's Europa League fixtures

6.00pm kick-offs

Gabala vs Mainz

Astana vs Young Boys

Zurich vs Osmanlispor

Schallke 04 vs Red Bull

Hapoe Be'er Sheva vs Southampton

Liberec vs PAOK

Fiorentina vs Qarabag

Steaua Bucharest vs Villarreal

Krasnador vs Nice

Ajax vs Standard Liege

Gent vs Konyaspor

Shakhtar vs Braga

Celta Vigo vs Panathinaikos

Sparta Prague vs Internazionale

8.05pm kick-offs

Genk vs Sassuolo

Manchester United vs Zorya Luhansk

Olympiakos vs Apoel Nicosia

Saint-Etienne vs Anderlecht

Dundalk vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Fenerbahce vs Feyenoord

Athletic Bilbao vs Rapid Wien

Austria Wien vs Viktoria Plzen

Roma vs Astra Giurgiu

Zenit vs AZ Alkmaar

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Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Thursday’s Europa League clash between Manchester United and Zorya Luhansk.​

After a mini-wobble earlier this month, Jose Mourinho’s side got back on track at the weekend with a resounding 4-1 win over defending Premier League champions Leicester City.

Wayne Rooney was left out of the starting line-up for the visit of the Foxes and could miss out once again for Zorya Luhank’s trip to Old Trafford.

The Ukrainian Premier League side, who currently sit second in their domestic league, are something of an unknown quantity to many, but they drew with Fenerbahce in their opening Europa League group game.

United, of course, lost to Feyenoord a fortnight ago, with a dour display at De Kuip. Can they pick up routine win against the lowest-ranked team in Group A tonight?

Mark Critchley29 September 2016 19:00
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Team news

Manchester United: Romero; Fosu-Mensah, Bailly, Smalling, Rojo; Fellaini, Pogba; Lingard, Mata, Rashford; Ibrahimovic.

Substitutes: Johnstone, Carrick, Schneiderlin, Young, Martial, Depay, Rooney.

Zorya Luhansk: Shevchenko; Sivakov, Chayovskiy, Kamenyuka, Petriak, Rafael, Karavaev, Ljubenovic, Grechyshkin, Sobol.

Substitutes: Chuvayev, Sukhotskiy, Gordiyenko, Lipartia, Paulinho, Opanasenko, Checher.

Mark Critchley29 September 2016 19:05
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Here's a bit of context to that team news...

Mark Critchley29 September 2016 19:06
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After being dropped for last weekend’s Premier League victory over Leicester City, it had been had been expected that Wayne Rooney would make his return for tonight’s fixture Europa League clash.

But according to manger Jose Mourinho, the 30-year-old has picked up a back injury which has kept him out of the starting team. Not sure if we believe that one…

Mourinho said: "I was completely convinced to play with him from the beginning [on Thursday] but with his situation in the last couple of days I am not sure.

"With the situation you [the media] create for him, he really can't afford to have a performance that is not really good. I am here to protect him and not put him in difficult situations."

Jose Mourinho speaks ahead of the game 

Samuel Lovett29 September 2016 19:32
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Mourinho has said that although he wants to rotate from time-to-time, he admitted that "we want to keep that dynamic... sometimes we don’t want to lose that organisation we have". The manager also remarked that, as expected, De Gea has been rested. He added that Romero "deserves" his start and is an "amazing guy". Kind words from the Portuguese. Bless.

Samuel Lovett29 September 2016 19:47
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10 min: It's very much all United as the ball zips about the home side's midfield in a neat triangle before Pogba attempts a dinked lob over the top. Rashford races to meet it but Sivakov rises to get his head to it and clears the danger.

Samuel Lovett29 September 2016 20:17
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13 min: Lovely build-up from the home side as Mata, positioned on the edge of the visitors' box, attempts to flick through Lingard. He dashes to meet it but he can't muscle his way past the Zorya defence and the opposition grab hold of possession to cut the attack dead.

Samuel Lovett29 September 2016 20:19
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20 min: What a striker from Rashford! The ball is whipped in from the left and finds Bailly who flicks the ball backwards to the edge of the box. The England youngster is there in anticipation and catches the ball sweetly on the half volley with his right foot. It thunders against the underside of the cross bar, shots downwards but bounces out away from goal. Fantastic effort and United's closest chance so far.

Samuel Lovett29 September 2016 20:27
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Samuel Lovett29 September 2016 21:36
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74 min - substitution: Juan Mata is replaced by Ashley Young while Timothy Fosu-Mensah makes way for Anthony Martial.

Samuel Lovett29 September 2016 21:37

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