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SCORE: 2nd Half

MANCHESTER UNITED (Ibrahimovic x3) 3-0 SAINT-ETIENNE

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If anything is wrong, don't hesitate to PM me. Suggestions also welcome!

UEFA Europa League tie between Manchester United and St. Etienne

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Date: February 16th, 2016

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Kick off BST: 20:05

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Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester

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Starting XI's:

Manchester United F.C.	St. Etienne
Romero	Ruffier
Valencia	Pogba
Smalling	Theophile-Catherine
Bailly	Perrin
Blind	Malcuit
Herrera	Monnet-Paquet
Fellaini	Pajot
Mata	Vertout
Martial	Intima
Pogba	Hamouma
Ibrahimovic	Saivet

Man Utd F.C. SUBS: De Gea, Rojo, Darmian, Young, Lingard, Schweinsteiger, Rashford

St. Etienne SUBS: Moulin, Lacroix, Pierre-Garbriel, Lemon, Selnæs, Beric, Roux

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Team news:

• Pogba starts at #10, Fellaini alongside Herrera.

• Romero fills in for Dave today

• Schweinsteiger back on the bench. Both Pogba's start.

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UPDATES:

FIRST HALF UPDATES:

0' KICK OFF!

0' United get us underway. We're in red and white, St. Etienne in all green.

5' St Etienne definitely started brighter in the opening minutes, creating a dangerous chance that had Romero scrambling, but now United are growing into it and starting to settle on the ball.

10' St Etienne have been attacking with pace and have been very direct with their passing trying to get through our back four. Martial forced Ruffier into a save with a shot from outside the box but no other real United chances.

15' MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL United win a free kick on the edge of the box and Ibrahimovic steps up and scores! He tries to hit it low underneath the wall, but they don't jump and as a result, it deflects through a defender's legs and wrong-foots Ruffier! Scrappy, but we lead!

20' St. Etienne are trying to grow back into the game. A dive in the box was attempted to win a penalty, but the ref says no and waves it away and United regain possession and slow things down again.

24' Mata forces two very good saves from Ruffier! Pogba plays a delicately chipped ball over the top of the St. Etienne defence and Mata swivels and volleys at goal but Ruffier palms it down and then gets enough on the rebound to put Mata off. Great chance!

30' United have a chance with Martial running at the defence on the left wing, before he cuts in and gets a shot away at goal. It's blocked and comes out to a St. Etienne player and they counter with pace and their resulting shot ends up going wide of the goal.

31' Martial again! He dribbles all the way from our half, past 3 players, before getting a low shot away at goal and forcing a very good save out of Ruffier. The ball falls to Ibrahimovic on the edge of the six-yard box, but he's caught unaware and the ball goes over the bar.

35' The pace of the game has slowed since Martial's runs with United just controlling the ball in midfield. Hopefully we score a second soon just to be safe.

40' Bailly has been very good in this first half at snuffing out St. Etienne's threats and blocking any shots they may have. St. Etienne have definitely have been more dangerous in the past ten minutes, and our defence has had to be on our toes to keep Romero safe.

45' St. Etienne have been very good since Martial's few runs at getting around our box and giving our defenders fits. Thankfully, they haven't had too many chances that are very dangerous, but we definitely need another to be safe.

45' HALF TIME

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SECOND HALF UPDATES:

45' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION Lingard ON || Fellaini OFF

45' SECOND HALF KICK OFF!

45' St. Etienne get us underway for the second half.

46' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Martial gets booked for a stray arm to the face of Malcuit as he was shielding the ball.

48' THE BALL IS IN THE NET! The ball is swung in from the right and Ibrahimovic heads it past Ruffier but he was clearly offside and it's not going to count!

55' United have come out of the break looking bright and are dominating early on in this half. We're creating good chances, pressing high, and getting shots off at goal.

58' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Herrera goes into the book.

60' Despite a good 15 minutes, we're still only up by one. We should make the most of this pressure and get a second before St. Etienne regroup.

62' Pogba goes inches away! He turns his man outside the box and tries to curl a left-footed shot into the far corner but it's just wide!

64' SAINT ETIENNE SUBSTITUTION Roux ON || Intima OFF

64' SAINT ETIENNE YELLOW CARD Pajot is booked.

65' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Lingard is booked for a late challenge.

68' POGBA HITS THE BAR! A great United free kick is swung in and Pogba gets his head on it and it's beaten Ruffier, but the crossbar saves the day and St. Etienne survive.

70' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION Rashford ON || Mata OFF

70' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Another booking.. Pogba this time.

71' SAINT ETIENNE SUBSTITUTION Selnaes ON || Pajot OFF

74' MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL WE GET OUR SECOND! IBRAHIMOVIC AGAIN! He'll never miss that one! Rashford darts into the box and plays it across goal. Ruffier gets a hand to the cross down low, but Ibrahimovic is right there to tap in!

78' SAINT ETIENNE SUBSTITUTION Beric ON || Pogba OFF

83' United have played well this second half. The referee has been a bit card happy for my liking, but we've done well and it's been quite comfortable so far. St. Etienne do have a free kick though. Nothing comes of it thankfully.

85' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION Young ON || Martial OFF

86' MANCHESTER UNITED PENALTY Ibrahimovic is bumped from behind in the box, and he goes down easily, but the ref awards us the penalty. For the hat-trick..

87' MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL THERE WAS NEVER A DOUBT! Bottom left-hand corner and that was unsaveable! It's a good win.

90' FOUR MINUTES ADDED

90+4' FULL TIME