Manchester United v Young Boys facts
Monday, November 19, 2018
Article summary
Manchester United are looking to reach the round of 16 as Young Boys switch their attention to finishing third.
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Manchester United and Young Boys both need victory on matchday five as they meet at Old Trafford, although only the home side can progress to the round of 16 with their visitors now fighting for a UEFA Europa League place.
• The sides' first ever meeting on matchday one was also Young Boys' UEFA Champions League group stage debut but it proved a losing start as Paul Pogba's first-half double was added to by Anthony Martial after the break.
• Having come from behind to win at section leaders Juventus last time out, United have seven points – two behind Juve and two above third-placed Valencia. Young Boys have a single point and must win to have any chance of a third-place finish; United will be through if they win and Valencia do not do likewise at Juventus.
Form guide
Manchester United
• United followed their victory in Berne with a goalless home draw against Valencia in their second fixture. They were beaten 1-0 by Juve at Old Trafford on matchday three, but turned the tables with a 2-1 comeback success in Turin in their most recent fixture.
• United have failed to score in successive home games for the first time since 2005. They have never gone three European matches in a row without scoring at Old Trafford.
• Second in last season's Premier League, United are in the group stage for the second year running and the 22nd time overall – fewer only than the 23 participations of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Porto.
• José Mourinho's side finished top of their section in 2017/18, edging out another Swiss club in Basel, but then bowed out in the first knockout round, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Sevilla (0-0 away, 1-2 home) in the last 16.
• United won all three home games in last season's group stage; the Sevilla loss ended a 21-match unbeaten run in Europe at Old Trafford (W17 D4), since a 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg.
• The current run of three matches without a home European victory is United's longest since 2011/12.
• United had opened their 2017/18 campaign with a 3-0 home defeat of Basel thanks to goals from Marouane Fellaini, Lukaku and Marcus Rashford, but were beaten 1-0 in Switzerland in their penultimate fixture. The Basel defeat was the only one of United's six group games they failed to win.
• The home win against Basel was United's first against Swiss visitors, having drawn their first two encounters.
• The Red Devils have lost four of their last 24 European matches, home and away (W15 D5).
Young Boys
• Having been beaten 3-0 by United, the Berne club went down by the same scoreline at Juventus in their first away game. They then picked up their first ever group point with a 1-1 home draw against Valencia, but were beaten 3-1 in Spain last time out.
• Young Boys were Swiss champions in 2017/18 – their 12th league title, but a first since 1986.
• Gerardo Seoane's side overcame Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb to reach the group stage for the first time, following a 1-1 home draw with a 2-1 away success. Young Boys' five previous UEFA Champions League campaigns all ended in qualifying, including in 2017/18 when they beat Dynamo Kyiv in the third qualifying round but lost to CSKA Moskva in the play-offs.
• Young Boys did reach the semi-finals of the 1958/59 European Champion Clubs' Cup, losing 3-1 over two legs against Reims.
• The Berne side have won only two of their last 14 European games (D5 L7), beating Skënderbeu 2-1 on matchday six of last season's UEFA Europa League in addition to the win in Zagreb. The fixture with the Albanian club was Young Boys' last European engagement of 2017/18, as they finished third in their section.
• The victory at Dinamo is Young Boys' sole away success in 16 European matches (D4 L11).
• Young Boys have won only one of their seven previous fixtures against English clubs – the first, a 3-2 defeat of Tottenham in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg. They lost the return 4-0, and most recently went down home (1-4) and away (1-3) against Everton in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League round of 32 – Romelu Lukaku, now of United, scoring five goals in the tie.
Links and trivia
• Martial was on target in Monaco's 4-0 home defeat of Young Boys in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg, completing a 7-1 aggregate success for the French club.
• Djibril Sow's goal was not enough to prevent Switzerland slipping to a 4-2 defeat against Diogo Dalot's Portugal in a 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier on 27 March.
Latest news
Manchester United
• Alexis Sánchez made his 50th appearance in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, on matchday four.
• United have won only four of their last 12 matches in all competitions (D5 L3), although matchday four made it three successive 2-1 wins; United were beaten 3-1 at neighbours Manchester City on 11 November and were held 0-0 at home by Crystal Palace on Saturday.
• Anthony Martial had scored in five successive Premier League appearances for United, six goals in all, before drawing a blank against Palace.
• Romelu Lukaku had scored four goals in four United matches before matchday one, but has drawn a blank in his last 11 appearances.
• Jesse Lingard scored in England's 3-0 friendly win against the United States on 15 November and, three days later, the 2-1 comeback victory against Croatia that secured a place in the UEFA Nations League Finals.
• Victor Lindelöf opened the scoring for Sweden as they defeated Russia 2-0 at home on 20 November to win promotion to UEFA Nations League A.
• Sánchez scored in Chile's friendlies against Costa Rica (2-3) and Honduras (4-1).
• Antonio Valencia found the net in Ecuador's 2-0 friendly win against Peru on 15 November.
• Paul Pogba picked up a thigh injury against Juventus on matchday four, returning at the weekend.
• Martial missed France's internationals with a groin problem while Marcus Rashford picked up a knock in England's game against Croatia; both featured on Saturday, Rashford as a substitute.
• Lukaku sat out Belgium's two games with a reported hamstring problem; Marouane Fellaini aggravated a groin injury against Manchester City. Lukaku played 90 minutes against Palace with Fellaini coming on for the last half-hour.
• Diogo Dalot (knock) has been out since Portugal's Under-21 game on 16 October.
Young Boys
• Four days after the defeat in Valencia YB won 3-2 at St Gallen in the Super League, Jean-Pierre Nsamé scoring twice. The Swiss champions have won their last four league games, and 13 of their 15 this season (D1 L1); they beat Lugano 1-0 at home on Saturday.
• YB had started the new season with nine wins from as many Super League matches to take an early grip on the top of the table before losing 3-2 at home against Luzern on 6 October and then drawing 3-3 at Zürich in their next fixture.
• Young Boys' 14-point lead after 14 matches was the largest gap at this stage of the season since Switzerland introduced a ten-team league in summer 2003.
• Guillaume Hoarau has scored six goals in his last eight appearances.
• The Berne club's 47 league goals this season have been scored by 11 different players.
• Loris Benito made his international debut for Switzerland in their friendly against Qatar on 14 November (0-1). Four days later he reappeared as a late substitute in the 5-2 win against Belgium – also featuring Kevin Mbabu – that put Switzerland into the UEFA Nations League Finals at their opponents' expense.
• Gregory Wüthrich, who had been out since mid-September with an adductors injury, damaged a thigh in training on 24 October and faces another spell on the sidelines.
• Jordan Lotomba (knee) is yet to play this season.