Considering Manchester United's current position in the Premier League you would have been forgiven for forgetting that their last performance in the Champions League was a magnificent 5-0 victory away at domestic high-flyers Bayer Leverkusen.
United's results in Europe have been enough to take them to the top of Group A but they needed one last win in this fixture at home to Shakhtar Donetsk to ensure that they qualified as group winners. A win would also help silence some critics before their Premier League match against Aston Villa on Sunday and realising this, David Moyes chose a strong line-up. There was six changes for the home side as Rio Ferdinand, Alex Buttner, Ashley Young, Ryan Giggs, Shinji Kagawa and Wayne Rooney all returned to the line up with Rooney taking the Captain's armband in the absence of Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra.
Shakhtar looked arguably the livelier of the two stages in the opening stages and for much of the half. Clearly wanting to take advantage of United's recent poor form at home they were quick to close them down and never allowed Ferdinand and Evans time to distribute the ball freely out of the defence. They also created the game's first good chance as Taison put Teixeira in with a well-timed through ball. Teixeira used his pace to beat Evans to the pass and ran into the box but couldn't find the finish and dragged his shot wide of the far post.
United then had a chance of their own after Januzaj was given space in the box to chest down a deflected Kagawa cross, turn and shoot shortly after the quarter of an hour mark. It was a lovely piece of skill from the youngster but Pyatov parried the shot away from the centre of his goal to keep the scores level. The Brazilian trio of Taison, Teixeira and Douglas were constantly causing problems for United and Teixeira utilised his lightning pace once again in the 28th minute with a dazzling diagonal run that saw him ease past Giggs and several other United players to reach the United box. Once again though he struggled to find an end product and his shot was tame and hit straight at De Gea.
United's only opportunities came when they had the chance to break with the ball and Rooney was given a chance shortly after the half hour mark with a free kick after Januzaj had been brought down on one of these rare United counter-attacks. Rooney took it well but it ended up on the wrong side of Pyatov's left-hand post and nestled into the side netting. Shakhtar were continuing to create chances though as Ferdinand looked unusually shaky at the back and allowed Teixeira to steal the ball off him and cross for Fred. Luckily for the former England defender he got back to put a block in to deny the Brazilian.
Against the run of play, United should have scored shortly before half time when Young got on the end of a ball over the top from Giggs ahead of Shakhtar Captain Srna. He tried to chip the on-rushing keeper but his dinked effort went just wide of the far post. It was undeniably the home side's best chance of the first half but it would have been incredibly harsh on the Ukrainian visitors, who had performed admirably throughout the opening 45. That chance seemed to have woken the hosts up though and they had one last opportunity before the whistle as they pounced on a poor defensive clearance from Shakhtar. Jones passed to Rooney who saw the in-field run of Young in space on the left and slid the ball to him but the inconsistent winger sent a poor finish hopelessly wide and into the crowd.
United looked much improved in the second half, maintaining possession for longer periods and keeping Shakhtar's Brazilian talent at bay. The substitutions made on the hour mark also saw the home team begin to look more competitive in the middle of the park as Cleverley replaced the 40 year old Giggs. Van Persie replaced Young too and it was his contribution that made the difference in the 67th minute when the Dutchman whipped in a delightful corner for Jones to volley in with venom. It was a lovely take from the versatile England man who had been one of United's better performers on the night.
United settled and Shakhtar heads went down meaning the visitors struggled to get back their momentum from the first half. De Gea made a late save from a Srna effort but ultimately the Ukrainians failed to create anything of note in the closing stages meaning they finished third in Group A and United go through to the Round of 16 as group winners. Although they struggled in the first half they managed to get the goal and see the game out. They now look ahead to next Monday's draw knowing that they will avoid European giants like Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid in the next round. However Moyes' team will certainly need to perform better in both legs against whichever team they are pitted against as they are likely to be punished if their performance is as sluggish as it was in the first half of this match.
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