Will Manchester United play Zorya tonight? Find out here

Dip in temperature in Ukraine's Odessa raised a cloud of doubts whether the Europa league clash between Zorya Luhansk and Manchester United will go ahead or not.

It was feared that United's trip to Ukraine may turn out to nothing as the pitch would froze because of the chilly weather.

Several measures had been taken to combat the hard conditions. Hot air balloon has been blown under the pitch covers overnight to save the pitch for match.

Jose Mourinho showed his unhappiness over the match being conducted in Ukraine in the month of December, when the weather is not helpful.

Despite all the adversities, UEFA is hopeful that the match will go underway as scheduled on the Thursday night.

The ground staff at the Chornomorets Stadium has been doing all the hard-work to prevent the pitch from frost.

UEFA delegates held a pitch inspection at 8am GMT on Thursday morning and one official said, " The pitch is at it's coldest now. The temperature is only going to rise during the day."

Following the inspection, a Zorya official said, "Everything depends on the weather and the pitch isn't brilliant at the moment, but we expect temperatures of two or three degrees and everything should be okay."

Daley Blind was heard to tell team-mates that the pitch was 'like rock' when United trained at the stadium on Wednesday night, and Mourinho expressed his concerns over the playing surface at his pre-match press conference.

"The pitch is hard and very icy,’ said the United boss. ‘I think UEFA know the conditions of the pitch and everybody knows that in mid-December the conditions in Ukraine and Eastern Europe are more difficult.

"If UEFA are worried about it they should change the fixtures and not allow them to be played in mid-December. If the fifth fixture is here it’s the end of November and not mid-December and that’s the problem.

"Hotel good, stadium good, pitch bad. But it’s very cold. I know it’s difficult to have a better pitch. The stadium is beautiful and new. The pitch is the same. They are trying. They are putting some warmth on it, but it’s very difficult and people cannot make miracles. Let’s hope everything goes okay."

Manchester United just need a point to secure their place in the next round of UEFA Europa League. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Wayne Rooney inspires Manchester United to a comprehensive victory

A Wayne Rooney special goal to couple it with an assist and some brilliant individual performances on a European night.

The Red devils were absolutely lethal in the night.

It was one of the important games to stay in hunt for a place in last 32 and Manchester United just played like that.

The hunger to score, the eagerness to get the ball every time it was with opponents, it was the kind of performance one expects to see from a United team.

Wayne Rooney was the star of the night, as he broke European goal scoring record for Manchester United.

As soon as he chipped the goalkeeper to open the scoring in the 35th minute, a move which he started himself and finished, he went past Ruud van Nisterlooy of scoring most goals in European competitions for Manchester United. He now moves to 39 goals.

Rooney assisted another for Juan Mata to score with a sublime reverse pass to make it 2-0 for United in 70th minute. Manchester United look ever hungry to score goals as  they added two more, an own goal from goalkeeper Brad Jones, trying to save a Zlatan Ibrahimovic shot and a stunning finish from substitute Jese Lingard in the dying minutes of the match.

Manchester United had 12 shots on target, most in Mourinho's era till now.
It's also the biggest win since the arrival of José Mourinho.

One player who proved himself on the night was Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He displayed an absolutely brilliant individual performance like he did all the time in Germany.
He got heavily involved in a number of chances and deserved a goal to his name but unfortunately didn't. He showed Mourinho what he had been missing. 

A player of his calibre deserves to start and even José Mourinho agreed in the post match conference.

Read what Mourinho had to say on Wayne Rooney's record breaking goal, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and more.

"It's an amazing achievement obviously," Mourinho said of Rooney at his post-match media conference.

"His performance was like the team performance. We showed direction even at 1-0 up, we want to score more goals and get into a position where we are ahead of them in a situation where there are two or three teams on the same points.

"It will be even better if he can help the club to win the one trophy they don't have in their history which is the Europa League.

"I know it's not the biggest competition, but let's push. Let's qualify, I know there are a lot of knockout games, but let's try."

Mourinho heaped praise on Mkhitaryan too.

Mourinho said: "I am very happy. We coped very well with the pressure on our shoulders - it was a good solid performance.

"Some players had chances, like Sergio Romero who made a double save at 0-0 and Mkhitaryan who put in a good individual performance.

"I think now Mkhitaryan just has to replicate this kind of performance in the Premier League.

"The Premier League is a level higher and he needs to replicate that in the Premier League with more physicality, with more pressure.

"But the quality we knew - that was why we brought him to the club. He has great quality."

And about Jese Lingard's superb late goal.

He added: "The goal was amazing. If it is another team scoring that goal with another manager on the touchline people would say that it's magic. But not Man United and not a Mourinho team."

It felt great to see Manchester United get back to winning ways in a must win game.

This performance if replicated in Premier league will surely make it even more exciting.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com