Manchester United will play their penultimate UEFA Europa League group stage match against Astana in the Astana Arena in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan this afternoon (in the United Kingdom). The match will kick off at 15:50 GMT, 21:50 local time. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named a very young squad with ten players who have not yet made their debuts for the United first team.
There are also four players who have played for the first team this season, some of them sparingly and four players who are considered experienced, either seeking minutes of a way to get back into the first team after injury or a year of poor form, guess who?. The blooding of youth is going to be great for United as there are so many talented players in the youth teams seeking their chances.
Astana have been eliminated from the Europa League this season, despite having two more matches to play, which will end their 2019 season, of which they were crowned as the Kazakhstani Premier League champions once again. United will be seeking to bounce back from their 3-3 draw against Sheffield United on Sunday but will be rested ahead of the important visit of Aston Villa to the Theatre of Dreams on Sunday afternoon. Come on United!
Manchester United:
Grant;
Laird, Bernard, Tuanzebe, Shaw;
Garner, Levitt;
Chong, Lingard, Gomes;
Greenwood
Substitutes:
Kovar; Mengi, Taylor; Galbraith, Puigmal; Bughail-Mellor, Ramazani
Astana:
Eric;
Rukavina, Postnikov, Logvinenko, Shomko;
Beysebekov, Maevski, Sigurjonsson, Rotariu;
Khizhnichenko, Murtazaev
Substitutes:
Mokin; Muzhikov, Pertsukh, Zhakipbayev, Janga, Zhalmukan; Prokopenko
United and Astana have played one in the history of both clubs. That match was played on the 9 September at Old Trafford in a match which saw Mason Greenwood score his first goal for the first team in a season which could see him becoming a much more relied upon player in the squad. Solskjaer has made a big decision to let youth prevail in this match and if they do well, we could see something exciting this season.
