Louis van Gaal discovers severe heat in freezing Denmark as Manchester United suffering deepens

United they aren’t. This was a night when Manchester United’s defending proved more costly than the price of the match ticket. Call it a form of football frostbite when Louis van Gaal's side appeared to lose all sense of their faculties in sub-zero Scandinavia amid falling to a 2-1 defeat as dysfunctional as it was deserved.

[MATCH REPORT: United slump to embarrassing defeat at Midtjylland]

The English club’s fans were £71 - plus a few hundred quid in travelling expenses - lighter after visiting the Danish city of Herning while their team were shorn of arguably their biggest asset in losing the Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea, valued at £30m by Real Madrid last summer, to a knee injury warming up. He was not the only casualty on a night of total United suffering.

Stripped of 14 regulars when adding De Gea to such a grim reading list, United turned out in a changed black strip, and ended the evening in the red.

Little Midtjylland, a corner shop team who had not played for two months, third in Danish SuperLiga and on a run of one win in their past 10 matches, were sharp enough to rumble the corporate giant United.

Little Midtjylland, a team with an overall budget of £7m against a United side carrying an annual wage bill of over £200m, were incisive enough to stick it to the Premier League lot. A 2-1 defeat was Van Galling for a manager under such strain.

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There is work to be done to salvage the ruins of this tie in the second leg at Old Trafford in a week’s time. For Van Gaal, this was a seventh defeat in 15. The malady lingers on.

In a snowy night in Herning, it was arguably the club’s only fit goalkeeper who prevented United from suffering a heavier beating.

The devoted posse of United fans should be grateful to Sergio Romero for making their sojourn to Denmark a little less costly after being charged a whopping £71 to gain access to the quaint 11,000-capacity MCH Arena against the Danish champions.

“Welcome to Scamdanavia,” was the banner United fans displayed in Herning’s city centre. Welcome to another angst-ridden night on the road with Louis van Gaal’s disunited army.

Southampton fans washed up in these parts in a Europa League qualifier last August, but were charged only £22. A first leg tie in the last 32 does not justify an extra £49 wherever you are born in Blighty.

The name of United continues to carry a certain lustre in foreign climes despite their recent travails under LVG, but on such nights the three-times European champions are merely playing at representing the badge on their shirts. The men in black were imposters.

Romero is apparently wanted by River Plate back in his native Argentina, but United handed this match to Midtjylland on a plate.

Prior to £31m forward Memphis Depay bundling a loose ball into the net for the visiting side’s opening goal and a sixth of the season on 37 minutes, Romero provided value with some stout goalkeeping.

When Daley Blind lost his man at a corner, Kian Hansen rose to head at goal only for Romero to read his intentions as well as Novak Djokovic receiving a serve to make a sturdy one-handed block on 20 minutes.

Vaclav Kadlec was through on goal a quarter of an hour later, but Romero stood tall to make an invaluable save before United spun to the home end within a minute to unearth a scruffy opener.

Pione Sisto’s equaliser was a thing of moving beauty as he benefited from a sloppy Michael Carrick pass before eluding a few visiting players to poke an effort beyond Romero from 22 yards, who had did little to deserve such ghastly marking before him.

Without Wayne Rooney and a knee injury that left him watching back in Manchester, United could not score despite Jesse Lingard hitting the bar and Juan Mata blowing an obvious chance to restore the visiting side’s lead with a header early in the second period.

£36m man Anthony Martial started central, but could have gone missing out wide such was his dwindling influence as United’s makeshift side slowly began to freeze over, but Paddy McNair, Chris Smalling and Mata also suffered badly in the inhospitable climate.

There was a certain amount of inevitability lancing the air when substitute Paul Onuachu slammed the ball into the corner of the net from distance on 76 minutes while Mata appeared to run for cover.

Only another terrific diving stop denied the 6ft 5in Nigerian forward a headed goal around the hour mark, but he made his presence felt with the decisive pouncing of the night.

Occupying fifth place and six points off fourth in the Premier League, United had hoped to carry off the Europa League to qualify for the Champions League. They are having a laugh. The cold does funny things to the mind. That is surely as far from reality as Manchester is from Herning.

On a night defined by profit and loss, United suffered few gains. It will be recalled as Midtjylland’s most famous night. They are only 17 years old.

For United, only infamy and calamity. Worryingly, Van Gaal and his side may not yet have bottomed out.