Ajax v Manchester United - live! 45 min: De Jong crosses to high for Bulykin and the big lad for Ajax makes only a half-hearted effort to climb for it. United get hold of the ball and probe up the right. However Sulejmani rides his luck, nicks the ball, and attacks. He passes to Ozbiliz on the left and he crossesfor Aissati (I think). Ferdinand is there, on the very edge of the box, and he lunges in ... there's a big penalty shout but the ref says no. And with that, it's half time. 43 min: Graham Taylor, on the telly, has just pointed out that there is not much movement in the United team. Always hard to tell these sorts of things from the telly as you can't see the whole pitch. So let's take his word for it: there's not enough movement in the United side. 42 min: Jones crosses for Hernandez and Rooney to head goalwards but Vertonghen clears. A moment later, Fabio crosses from the left flank for Nani. He goes down in a heap making all sorts of accusations about why he's gone down in a heap. The referee looks at him with faint disgust. 40 min: Evans threads a ball through to Hernandez, who probably wasn't expecting it. The striker twists and turns and wins a throw-in near the corner flag. But from a decent position, United end up back in their own half playing the ball ponderously sideways. 38 min: Eriksen aims up a sighter from distance. From the centre of the park, he swings one at De Gea from a way out. It's a simple enough stop, though. There are, apparently, a clutch of British scouts here to watch the young midfielder tonight. He favours a move to Barcelona apparently. For a change. 37 min: Ajax are being more adventurous now, and are finding some success in probing the United flanks. United aren't letting them have it all their own way. They attack too. Eventually, the ball breaks to Cleverley who has a a booming and wild shot high over the Ajax cross bar. "There's a certain irony in a man called Cleverley playing against Ajax isn't there?" writes Gary Naylor. Best vs Cruyff? I think Cruyff was the more beautiful - which is not something one says often when George Best is the comparator. 34 min: Another high ball comes over from United and De Gea remains rooted to his line. Vertonghen, who appears to be everywhere, heads goalwards. There follows a succession of Ajax crosses - two in fact - and the last of them is finally headed over. Good pressure from the home side. 33 min: De Jong has a wicked crack at goal. From 35 yards out, he sends an absolute missile at the top corner. De Gea does what he does best though: he makes a spectacular save. From the resulting corner, the keeper does what he does worst. He flaps a bit, but eventually gets the ball out. 31 min: Hernandez, onside this time, races forwards to get hold of a through ball. Vermeer is awake, though, and claims again. 31 min: "Re: Europa League bashing," writes Stefan Lutter. Perhaps if United think themselves too good to grace the Europa League, they should have given it a bit more thought before getting spanked twice by FC Basel. If anything, Ajax should be the ones still in the competition, as their group included Madrid and Lyon and it took an absurd chain of events to eliminate them. 29 min: Nani creeps in on the right of the Ajax box. With Rooney and Hernandez screaming for the ball he instead shoots from an impossible angle. The ball balloons up, over the goal and into the crowd. Fergie shakes his head ruefully on the touchline. 28 min: Plenty of passing again which finally leads to a breakthrough of sorts. Sulejmani swings over a booming cross after the centre-back Vertonghen again came streaming forwards with the ball. Bulykin went up for a good chance but couldn't quite connect properly as Evans cleared. As the ball trickles back, De Jong is there to have a crack but it bounces back off his own man. Up the other end, Rooney then has a crack of his own. 26 min: Ajax pass their way forwards from the back. They make it about two-thirds of the way up the pitch before they face the massed ranks of the United defence. United don't seem too unhappy to let them keep passing, especially as they're mostly going sideways. Eventually, after a throw-in, Manchester United win the ball and head forwards themselves. It's then Ajax's turn to stop them. Ho hum. 23 min: The hat mystery: resolved. "Evening Tom!" cheers a cheery Ryan Dunne. The Wales hat was famously a gift from Ryan Giggs, which Ferguson has continued to wear for reasons of luck (which, given Man U's haul of trophies in his tenure, does make a certain sense). I wonder if any of Man U's England players have tried to get him to wear some 3 lion themed clothing? 22 min: Hernandez goes charging through to meet a defence-splitting pass. The keeper Vermeer comes flying odd his goal line too, though, and just beats the striker to it. 21 min: Nani tricks his way into a crossing position on the right. With Hernandez waiting expectantly, the swings the ball into the area but Vertonghen leaps highest and clears. 20 min: "Not sure I get all this Europa League dissing," emails Paul Taylor. From this seat the Champions League looks like a place where good English teams go to get the stuffing knocked out of them and come home disgraced if not shambleized (as Radar would put it). Are we having just a spot of trouble adjusting to the fact that we are no longer king of the road? Well, it was Ferguson who called it a "punishment" and, really, a club like Manchester United ought not to be competing in the Europa League. 19 min: Young seems to have shrugged off whatever was bothering him. He scoops a flicked pass over the Ajax defence for Hernandez to run onto. The Mexican is offside though. A moment later, Rooney comes trundling up to the box. Caught in two minds between blasting a long range shot and placing one, he doesn't really do either. Vermeer hops into the air and clutches the ball to his chest. 18 min: A loose pass from Jones to Nani is intercepted by Koppers. The left back goes charging into the area but his shot is tame. De Gea saves easily. Still, a mistake there from the United right back. 16 min: "Re. 5 mins: 'Ajax have started decently'?" emails Pramod Hegde before using up his full nightly quota of punctuation marks: "Imagine if they had started indecently?!?!" 15 min: Rooney blazes up the United right and, with three players in the penalty area, his cross gets deflected behind everyone. Meanwhile Ashley Young appears to be in some discomfort. Not sure why yet. 14 min: From the throw-in, Eriksen gets the beating of Carrick and so the United midfielder and Ferdinand combine to bundle the ball out for a corner. Nothing comes of it though. 14 min: After United attempt an attack, Ajax come back at them. Well, sort of. Ozbiliz comes forward up the right and pings in a cross from several miles out. It goes straight to De Gea. Then, again, he goes up the right and crosses more succesfully. Evans has to clear into touch. 13 min: Eriksen takes up a position on the edge of the United D, then passes out wide to Sulejmani on the left wing. His cross is perfect - a nice height, across the face of the goal and there for the attacking - except for one thing: it doesn't go anywhere near an Ajax player. 10 min: Carrick heads the ball goalwards, but Ajax - after a little while - can get the ball safely up the pitch. Not a single one of them chases the clearance though. Instead, they sit back deep and wait for United. Hernandez calls for the ball but is marginally offside when it comes. 9 min: It's a little ponderous so far. Each team is allowing the other plenty of room, and so the passing has been slow and languid, without being penetrating. Finally Evans makes a dart for the Dutch side's box. He passes out wide to Young on the left, who tries a couple of stepovers then earns a corner. 7 min: Ajax attempt to play De Jong in after some near triangles up their right. Ferdinand intercepts and clears though. 6 min: Nani collects from Carrick and goes on a mazy little run into the Ajax box. His shot is easily knocked behind for a corner, though. The winger then proceeds to thump his corner kick straight out of play behind the goal. 5 min: Eriksen lingers on the ball 10 yards outside the United box. He offloads then picks up the ball again, passing out to Ozbiliz on the wing. He crosses to Bulykin in the box, but his touch lets him down. Ajax have started decently. 4 min: "Regarding your header picture," emails Adrian Gentry. Did Lord Ferg lose a bet on the 6 nations and have to wear the Welsh RFU hat this evening? 3 min: Vertonghen goes on a charge up the middle then oddloads. Ajax build slowly before Vertonghen again takes control of the ball. He fires a long ball forward for Bulykin but it goes too far and into touch. 2 min: In fact, United spend a good length of time passing it around the back. Eventually De Gea hoofs it long and Ajax get on the ball. They make a tentative attack, Eriksen swinging the ball into the box but to nobody. Peep, peep: It's cold, it's noisy and we're off. Hernandez has completed his pre-match chat with The Man Upstairs, has knocked the ball to Rooney and United have passed it around the back. 5.58pm: There's quite the atmosphere at the Amsterdam ArenA. Teh fans are waving banners like their lives depend on it, while the PA is pumping out the tunes like its 3am at the Hacienda. None of the tunes are this, though. 5.53pm: Sir Alex Ferguson is in the tunnel. Roughly, here's what he has to say. If you're in a tournement, you want to win it. The CHampions League has gone. [Ajax] will be good as always. They've always prouced young, clever footballers. That's been their philosophy for many years and we'll get that tonight. Hopefully we can get the result. 5.51pm: Ajax are expecting a 50,000 capacity full house. However, they may be a few short of that after 76 Ajax fans were arrested last night having been found with brass knuckles, clubs, teargas and "a large amount of narcotics." Yikes. 5.40pm: "It's great to see Cleverley playing again for United," says Richard Berry. I don't think he is as world class as people made him out to be while he was injured and he probably got over hyped, but his ability to just pass quickly and keep the ball moving meant we could play such a high tempo at the beginning of the season. Intrigued to see how we will get on tonight. They just seem to play better when he's on the pitch - it's his European debut tonight after returning from the ankle injury he suffered against Everton. 5.36pm: The United lineup is an attacking one, and they'll be up against the classic Ajax 4-3-3. Could be a chance for Young and Nani to make hay up their respective wings - or, alternatively, could be a chance for the Dutch side's attackers to make mincemeat of a creaky defence seeking to attack. Meanwhile, Peter Yates has emailed to point out: "How about: Edwards, Best, Charlton, Hughes, Keane, Robson, Cantona et al. I'm sure Bobby Charlton would agree that Duncan Edwards should be the first name on that list.  Team news: Ajax: Vermeer, Anita, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Koppers, De Jong, Aissati, Eriksen, Ozbiliz, Bulykin, Sulejmani. Subs: Cillessen, Boilesen, Blind, Lodeiro, Serero, Van Rhijn, Lukoki Manchester United: De Gea, Jones, Ferdinand, Evans, Fabio, Nani, Carrick, Cleverley, Young, Rooney, Hernandez. Subs: Amos, Smalling, Park, Welbeck, Scholes, Valencia, Pogba Preamble: Ajax v Manchester United. There's a fixture to stir the heart. Four European Cups plays three. Thirty league titles plays 19. Two teams whose past players read like a roll call of the greatest players of all time: Cruyff, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Overmars, Seedorf, Kluivert, Rijkaard, Laudrup, Davids, Ibrahimovic, Arnesen ... Then Best, Charlton, Hughes, Keane, Robson, Cantona et al. And here we all are seeing this history, one of the game's epic clashes, in the Europa League. On Channel 5. Sheesh. It's a competition recently described by the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson as "a punishment" and is the first time the two clubs have met competively outside the Champions League in 17 years. It doesn't feel quite as much like The Big One as it once did, does it? Ajax are a club in the midst of a civil war too. Boardroom wrangling, with Johan Cruyff at its heart, has ripped apart relationships at the top of the club. On the pitch, the club's pedigree is unrecognisable too. They're sixth in the Eredivisie, eight points below leaders PSV Eindhoven. They've won just one league title in seven years (last year, in fact) and have won only one of their four league games this year. Manchester United, meanwhile, appear to be trying to convince themselves this is something they care about. The noise from their camp has been all about how they're trying to win the tournament - but it apears they're words delivered through the gritted teeth. "We need to get used to the fact we are not in the Champions League this season," said Javier Hernadez before the match. Fergie added: "winning any European trophy is significant. Irrespective of those who have won the three trophies before it is important for us, with our own history, to win tournaments all the time. Both teams are a footballing sides, though, so with luck everyone can ignore the shabbier backdrop the Europa League provides and this can entertain. My prediction is Ajax 1-3 Manchester United.