Manchester United will take an away goal back to Old Trafford for the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie with Rostov after hammering out a dull 1-1 draw in Russia.
238 United fans had made the trip to Rostov, each rewarded for their 3,750 round-trip by having their Visas paid for by the club.
Played on a dreadful pitch at the Olymp-2 Stadium, the game matched the quality of the surface with precious little finesse throughout.
If you didn’t know how hard the Rostov pitch is, watch this. It’s literally bounced about 5 of Daley Blind’s size. pic.twitter.com/rHuKIAYoYU
— Jordan (@FourFourJordan) March 9, 2017
However, the visitors managed to take the lead on 35 minutes, courtesy of a close-range effort from Henrik Mkhitaryan after a clever cut-back from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ibrahimovic almost scored after the break as United navigated the rock-hard pitch without picking up any injuries.
However, somewhat against the run of play, Rostov levelled on 53 minutes when a long ball from Timofei Kalachev evaded the United defence, leaving Aleksandr Bukharov to fire home.
As the second period progressed, both sides had chances to win the game, with Marouane Fellaini heading straight at ‘keeper Nikita Medvede.
However, the game would ultimately end all-square – a decent enough result for the Premier League side against a team who had registered a Champions League victory over Bayern Munich earlier in the season.