A youthful Manchester United side lost 2-1 against Astana in their Europa League group clash.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side had already qualified from the group before Thursday evening's encounter. With that in mind, the United manager rested his key names and had promised to start many of the club's young talents for the away trip to Kazakhstan. The starting team had an average age of 21.6 years.
Astana Comeback
But it was one of the relative elder statesmen that gave Man United the lead after 10 minutes. Jesse Lingard (26) ended a lengthy personal goal drought as he found the bottom corner of the net with a precise low shot from outside the box.
Tahith Chong should have made it 2-0 after the break. But the youngster contrived to miss from point-blank range. That kept the home side's chances alive and Astana punished that miss midway through the second half.
Dmitriy Shomko levelled on 55 minutes. And five minutes later, the Kazakh side took the lead as Di'Shon Bernard deflected Antonio Rukavina's right-wing cross past United keeper Lee Grant.
The visitors were unable to secure an equaliser. The defeat does not affect United's progression to the last-32. However, they could slip from the summit of Group L should AZ Alkmaar beat Partizan Belgrade at home in the 5.55pm kick-off.
