Key events
Mbeumo sets up De Ligt for a shot, a combination which would be much more effective the other way around. The Dutchman hammers the ball over the bar.
Mason Mount comes on for United, ending Ayden Heaven’s personal, um, difficulties.
There’s a lot of standing water on the pitch at Blundell Park, but they play on. Fernandes has an excellent shot from 25 yards, which is well saved.
Ruben Amorim is currently moving little player-representing tokens around a laminated pitch map, which seems like a completely absurd thing for him to be doing.
It has now stopped raining in Grimsby. There was no more rain left.
Based on the first 13 minutes of the second half Grimsby seem more likely to extend their lead than United are to reduce it. It would be quite something if Rangers manage to escape the evening with only its second most embarrassing result. Talking of which: “Currently in Bucharest to watch Aberdeen tomorrow night and hopefully they don’t screw up like the entitled two did yesterday and currently,” writes Richard Gibbs. “Would like to see Brugge take their foot off the gas, Sevco get a couple of late goals and Martin stays for another month. Delete that they’ve just scored again.”
It’s currently 6-0 there, and 9-1 on aggregate, Christos Tzolis with their first goal of the second half.
Another goal for Brighton, 4-0 up at Oxford now with Stefanos Tzimas slotting in the latest.
It is absolutely pouring at Grimsby now, the kind of rain that is so thick and heavy that on television it looks like fog. Grimsby continue to bother United, and have just won themselves a corner. Grimsby lead 7-0 on corner kicks!
GOAL! Everton 1-0 Mansfield!
Carlos Alcaraz has broken the deadlock at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and very nicely taken it was too, sidefooted in from the edge of the area.
What a chance for Grimsby! So much space on the left for Green, who pulls back to Burns, who should really have scored but his shot deflects wide.
A big goal in Copenhagen, where Andreas Cornelius has given the home side the lead against Basel: it’s 1-0 there, and 2-1 on aggregate. Elsewhere Benfica lead Fenerbahce 1-0 both on the night and on aggregate. The only Champions League game that isn’t on a knife-edge is the Rangers one, which couldn’t possibly be less knife-edgy.
Brighton have scored again, Diego Gomez with the latest in the 60th minute to put them 3-0 up at Oxford.
Manchester United’s half-time changes: Bruno Fernandes, Bryan Mbeumo and Matthijs de Ligt are coming on. Fredricson, Dorgu and Ugarte have gone off.
Various Manchester United substitutes are warming up at half-time, and some kind of change-up is surely inevitable. Can Grimsby cling on to this? Can Andre Onana cling on to anything?
Half-time mailbag!
“If Man Utd lose tonight it will be easy to write the competition off but look at the level of the side playing tonight,” writes Kevin Wilson. “That is still a team filled with internationals. Amorim hasn’t turned it around, the results aren’t improving and if they’re not beating Grimsby, what makes you think he will? This just hasn’t worked.”
“I had to download my sports channel’s app, so that I could rewind back to the replays and understand what happened for that second Grimsby goal,” writes Kári Tulinius. “I’m still not sure how Onana made such a horlicks out of this, or what the defenders were doing, seasoned pros one and all. How much money will Manchester United throw at Donnarumma, and how will they manage to ruin the best goalkeeper in the world?”
“Grimsby have missed the memo!” moans Hamish Williams. “Manchester United will have to make a managerial change if this keeps up, and that would ruin it for everyone. Not even Big Sir Jim can ignore this. You’re supposed to beat them, not embarrass them!”
Half time: Grimsby Town 2-0 Manchester United
The halftimely whistle blows, and Ruben Amorim has 15 minutes to do some kind of vaguely competent managing and turn this thing around.
GOAL! Club Brugge 5-0 Rangers (Brugge lead 8-1 on aggregate)! An excellent cross this one, and a bullet header from Aleksandar Stankovic. Not even half-time, and Rangers are being thrashed.
GOAL! Club Brugge 4-0 Rangers (Brugge lead 7-1 on aggregate)
Another for Joaquin Seys, who steals in at the back post to volley a right-wing cross into the roof of the net. I think this will be the last Brugge goal to get a big shouty headline, there might just be too many of them.
Grimsby currently lead Manchester United 8-7 on touches inside the opposition penalty area. Their lead is not down to luck. United enjoy a spell of possession, but create nothing with it.
GOAL! Club Brugge 3-0 Rangers (Brugge lead 6-1 on aggregate)
Joaquin Seys has the easiest of finishes to put Club Brugge in full, complete and overwhelming control of their tie against Rangers, and he converts calmly.
If you happen to live in the UK, you may enjoy Grimsby’s two goals here. You may also not enjoy them, depending on your allegiances:
GOAL! Club Brugge 2-0 Rangers (Brugge lead 5-1 on aggregate)
A corner from the right, and Hans Vanaken heads it in. This couldn’t be any more done or any more dusted.
GOAL! Grimsby Town 2-0 Manchester United (Warren, 30 mins)
This is not a drill. Grimsby take a corner on the left, play it short, swing it in, and Onana completely messes up his attempt to deal with it. He rushes out, makes no contact on the ball, and it drops to the feet of two Grimsby players, of whom Tyrell Warren completes the formalities.
Grimsby have the ball in the net again! But the referee spots a handball – the ball bounced up into Gardner’s arm – and it won’t count!
Meanwhile in Belgium, Brugge’s Christos Tzolis sends a 25-yarder swerving into the meat of the crossbar, off which it rebounds to safety.
GOAL! Grimsby Town 1-0 Manchester United (Vernam, 22 mins)
Manchester United are losing to Grimsby Town! It’s a fine move, ending with Burns lifting a pass from right to left where Charles Vernam was running untracked into the area, and he took a touch before lashing in at the near post!
As if Celtic being knocked out yesterday and Rangers heading the same way tonight wasn’t enough bad Champions League news for one city, Glasgow City have been knocked out of the Women’s competition. Here’s PA Media:
Glasgow City’s hopes of reaching the Women’s Champions League were ended as Austria Wien recorded a 2-0 second qualifying round victory. There was little between the two sides in the first half as Glasgow competed well at the Franz Horr Stadium in Vienna. Katharina Schiechtl fired the Austrians ahead four minutes after the interval with a direct free-kick. Glasgow stayed in the game and Sofia Maatta went close to an equaliser 12 minutes from time. The tie was put beyond Glasgow in the third minute of stoppage time after Almedina Sisic set up fellow substitute Maria Olsen. Emily Whelan almost claimed a consolation for the Scottish visitors when her effort bounced off the woodwork with almost the last kick of the match.
Fifteen minutes played at Blundell Park and there has so far been one shot on target, Grimsby leading Manchester United 1-0 on those. No actual goals, though.
RED CARD! Rangers go down to 10 men!
A long ball and a suicidally high defensive line combine to undo Rangers. Tzolis looks set to run clear, until Max Aarons pulls him back and brings him down. And that is the very definition of a professional foul.
GOALS! Brighton and Fulham double their leads!
Raul Jimenez for Fulham and Brajan Gruda for Brighton, both of whom now revel in 2-0 leads.
GOAL! Club Brugge 1-0 Rangers (aggregate score 4-1)
And that is surely curtains for Rangers! It’s a splendid cross from the left, and Nicolo Tresoldi stoops at the near post to power in the header!
Rangers will have to learn how to deal a bit better with the pace of Carlos Forbs on the right of the Brugge attack, because scything him down in full flight is not a long-term solution. They give away a free-kick, which is curled out of play.
There have already been a couple of Carabao Cup goals, both in 7.45pm kick-offs: Olivier Boscagli has given Brighton the lead at Oxford, while a George Tanner own goal has handed Fulham the advantage at home to Bristol City.
BONG! The time is 8pm, and the football has begun (those games that hadn’t already begun)!
A few minutes before kick-off o’clock, and teams are emerging from tunnels!
Qarabag qualify for the leaguey bit of the Champions League!
Fireworks explode over the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium after Clement Turpin blows the final whistle – Qarabag lost 3-2 to Ferencvaros, but won 5-4 on aggregate to claim their place in the leaguey bit!
Carabao Cup teams
The starting lineups for tonight’s four Carabao Cup games are here:
Everton v Mansfield
Everton: Travers, Coleman, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Garner, Armstrong, McNeil, Alcaraz, Grealish, Barry. Subs: King, Beto, Ndiaye, O’Brien, Dibling, Dewsbury-Hall, Iroegbunam, Onyango, Campbell.
Mansfield: Roberts, Knoyle, Bowery, Cargill, Blake-Tracy, McDonnell, Reed, Moriah-Welsh, Hendry, Dickov, Evans. Subs: Mason, McLaughlin, Sweeney, Hewitt, Lewis, Maris, Bolton, Dwyer, Gardner.
Referee: Thomas Bramall.
Fulham v Bristol City
Fulham: Lecomte, Castagne, Diop, Cuenca, Sessegnon, Reed, Cairney, Traore, Wilson, Smith Rowe, Jimenez. Subs: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Berge, Lukic, King, Iwobi, Rodrigo Muniz.
Bristol City: Lumley, Tanner, Vyner, Dickie, McCrorie, Knight, Bird, Hirakawa, Stokes, Bell, Armstrong. Subs: Thomas, Randell, Roberts, Twine, Cornick, Sykes, Mehmeti, Jakobsen, Mayulu.
Referee: Lewis Smith.
Grimsby v Man Utd
Grimsby: Pym, Rodgers, Warren, McJannett, Sweeney, McEachran, Gardner, Green, Khouri, Burns, Vernam. Subs: Auton, Staunton, Amaluzor, Brown, Soonsup-Bell, Kabia, Turi, Oduor, Rose.
Man Utd: Onana, Fredricson, Maguire, Heaven, Dalot, Mainoo, Ugarte, Dorgu, Diallo, Cunha, Sesko. Subs: Bayindir, Heaton, de Ligt, Leon, Casemiro, Fernandes, Mount, Mbeumo, Zirkzee.
Referee: Tony Harrington.
Oxford Utd v Brighton
Oxford Utd: Ingram, Placheta, Spencer, Moore, Long, Currie, Phillips, Vaulks, Brannagan, Mills, Mark Harris. Subs: Cumming, ter Avest, Sibley, De Keersmaecker, Snowden, Luke Harris, Prelec, Bradshaw, Goodrham.
Brighton: Steele, Veltman, Boscagli, Igor, Hinshelwood, Coppola, Milner, Gomez, Gruda, Kadioglu, Howell. Subs: McGill, Tzimas, Lamptey, Watson, Baleba, Kostoulas, O’Riley, Tasker, Simmonds.
Referee: Oliver Langford.
Alex Toth has just scored an absolute screamer to put Ferencvaros 3-2 up at Qarabag, and they need one more goal in the last 10 minutes or so to take the game into extra time.
Champions League teams
Qarabag and Ferencvaros are currently drawing 2-2 in the early kick-off, with Qarabag therefore nursing a 5-3 aggregate advantage. The lineups for the late Champions League games, meanwhile, are here:
Benfica v Fenerbahce
Benfica: Trubin, Dedic, Antonio Silva, Otamendi, Dahl, Rios, Barrenechea, Aursnes, Barreiro, Akturkoglu, Pavlidis. Subs: Soares, Obrador, Ivanovic, Schjelderup, Prestianni,
Henrique Araujo, Tomas Araujo, Gouveia, Oliveira, Veloso, Santos, Prioste.
Fenerbahce: Livakovic, Muldur, Skriniar, Oosterwolde, Nelson Semedo, Amrabat, Fred, Brown, Szymanski, En Nesyri, Talisca. Subs: Egribayat, Yuksek, Djiku, Duran, Demir, Kahveci, Under, Munir Mercan, Elmaz, Aydin, Akcicek, Soyuncu.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).
Club Brugge v Rangers
Club Brugge: Mignolet, Sabbe, Spileers, Mechele, Seys, Stankovic, Nwadike, Forbs, Vanaken, Tzolis, Tresoldi. Subs: Jackers, Romero, Reis, Vetlesen, Sandra, Meijer, Nilsson, Skoras, Siquet, Audoor, Diakhon, Furo.
Rangers: Butland, Aarons, Djiga, Souttar, Meghoma, Cameron, Aasgaard, Rothwell, Antman, Danilo, Gassama. Subs: Kelly, Wright, Tavernier, Barron, Dessers, Diomande, Fernandez, Raskin, Moore, Gentles, Curtis, Hutton.
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany).
Copenhagen v Basel
Copenhagen: Kotarski, Huescas, Hatzidiakos, Gabriel Pereira, Lopez, Larsson, Mattsson, Lerager, Achouri, Cornelius, Elyounoussi. Subs: Runarsson, Gadeberg-Burr, Garananga,
Claesson, Moukoko, Robert, Suzuki, Zague, Sarapata, Meling, Delaney, Clem.
Basel: Hitz, Tsunemoto, Barisic, Vouilloz, Schmid, Metinho, Leroy, Soticek, Shaqiri, Otele, Broschinski. Subs: Salvi, Pfeiffer, Koindredi, Bacanin, Ajeti, Ruegg, Kacuri, Cisse, Ze, Rexhaj, Akahomen, Kaio Eduardo.
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (Romania).
Hello world!
Not quite so many matches tonight as there were yesterday, but it’s about quality not quantity and after Celtic stunk out Tuesday evening there’s definite room for improvement there. We’ve got just four Champions League fixtures to keep an eye out for, one of which started a while ago, and precisely the same number of Carabao Cup games. And they are:
Champions League play-off second leg (kick-offs 8pm BST unless stated)
Benfica v Fenerbahce (0-0 after first leg)
Club Brugge v Rangers (Brugge won the first leg 3-1)
Copenhagen v Basel (the first leg was drawn 1-1)
Qarabag FK v Ferencvaros (5.45pm BST, Qarabag won the first leg 3-1)
Carabao Cup second round (7.45pm BST kick-offs unless stated)
Everton v Mansfield
Fulham v Bristol City
Grimsby v Man Utd (8pm)
Oxford Utd v Brighton
Also tonight: Celta Vigo v Real Betis in La Liga (8pm), Bayern Munich play a first-round German cup tie at Wehen Wiesbaden (7.45pm), Hamilton Academical host Edinburgh City in the Scottish Challenge Cup (7.45pm), and Hibernian play a Women’s Champions League qualifying semi-final against Fortuna Hjorring (7.30pm).
And while we wait for all of that:
It’s all looking very grim for West Ham, says Jacob Steinberg:
Football Daily: Pafos lead a hipster takeover of the Champions League
Some women’s Champions League qualifiers have already been played and Tom Garry was monitoring them
The Knowledge investigates outbreaks of specific scorelines in major league gameweeks. This is information we all need, obviously.
Spurs want to spend loads of money on a footballer
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