Kick Off: 2000, 16/03/2017
Stadium: Old Trafford
TV: BT Sport 2
Manchester United will have been happy with a 1-1 draw at Rostov in the Europa League and now look to finish the job off at Old Trafford.
A poor pitch in Russia affected the first leg but both teams showed enough going forward to suggest the return fixture could yet go either way.
A Look At Manchester United’s Betting Odds
Manchester United started brightly at Olimp-2 Stadium and appeared on course for a comfortable night when Zlatan Ibrahimovic set up Henrikh Mkhitaryan to bag a crucial away goal 10 minutes before half-time.
The Russian outfit put in a much stronger performance after the break but that did not surprise Jose Mourinho, who commented: “Any team in the world that are losing the match, especially at home, they try hard. Had it been the group stage, Rostov could possibly be happy with a point but this is the knockout phase so they wanted to have that advantage.”
United will be happy to get back to their smooth Old Trafford surface and have a fine record there in this competition, winning all four of this season’s home games by an aggregate score of 12-1.
Our best bet from the Man Utd v Rostov betting odds is 29/20 for the Red Devils to score at least three goals.
A Look At Rostov’s Betting Odds
Aleksandr Bukharov kept Rostov in this tie with what could best be described as an Ibrahimovic-type strike, with the powerful front man chesting down a floated ball over the top of United’s defence and then slotting home coolly past David De Gea.
“We were a different side in each half,” declared coach Ivan Daniliants. “We did not play like the home team in the first one but then regrouped and started to look more like ourselves. We got more lively, took the game to them and scored.”
If Rostov could repeat that second-half display they would be dangerous but the Russian side only picked up one point away from home in their Champions League group, losing 5-0 at Bayern Munich in the process, and must travel to England without suspended duo Aleksandr Gatskan and Timofei Kalachev, plus the injured Vladimit Granat.
That will surely stretch Rostov’s resources and we like 3/4 for United to win to nil this time.
Additional stats
First-leg result:
ROSTOV 1-1 MAN UTD – Aleksandr Bukharov & Henrikh Mkhitaryan
