Love or loathe Manchester United, you can't deny that these fellows are box office. They've been so ever since Matt Busby swanned in and infused the club with a windswept Hollywood glamour, a rich musk that's never worn off. United were box office when they were getting themselves relegated. They were box office when Dave Sexton was grinding down hope. They were box office when Ron Atkinson revived it, but only in the futile style. And they were box office when Alex Ferguson arrived and built a team of such pomp and ceremony that they regally laid waste the rest of English football, and a fair swathe of Europe to boot. And now? They're box office now, too, because ... well, why, exactly?  Here's why! We're only four months in, but already Manchester United's 2013/14 season is shaping up to be one of the most fascinating campaigns in living memory. David Moyes has been charged with a unique task, that of taking over from a manager who won everything and spent 27 years doing it. He's heading into uncharted waters, and it's impossible to take your eyes off his journey. We wish you the best of luck in finding two people with exactly the same opinion regarding his eventual destination. On the one hand, United aren't, by their own lofty standards, doing particularly well in the league. They've been conceding soft late equalisers, for a start, which is strange behaviour indeed. The trademark swashbuckling style's gone, too. A temporary glitch in form, or is something more radical occurring?  On the flip side, United are currently ten unbeaten in all competitions. They're within striking distance of the top of the Premier League despite their slow start. They're in the quarter final of the League Cup. And they're unbeaten in Europe. A win here in Leverkusen tonight, and they secure their place in this year's knockout phase of the Champions League, most likely in top spot unless they lose at home against shaky Shakhtar Donetsk in their final game, thus avoiding the Barcas, Bayerns and Reals in the second round. A draw will even do them in terms of progress, as it will Leverkusen, should Shakhtar and Real Sociedad draw in tonight's other Group A game. For a team whose standards are supposedly slipping, they're not in too shoddy a position. A favourable result tonight, against a team they've already beaten 4-2 in this group, and United's season could suddenly be pootling merrily along its usual course.  Flipping it back again, they're without (in order of importance) Michael Carrick, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic and .................................. Marouane Fellaini. The team really need to up their game after an appalling second-half performance at Cardiff on Sunday. And Bayer Leverkusen will pose United one hell of a test, the result at Old Trafford notwithstanding; they've won their last eight home group matches in the Champions League. They've won their last two Bundesliga matches, too (although the one before that was a preposterous defeat at bottom club Eintracht Braunschweig). A defeat here for United tonight, and they'll still be in the box seat for qualification - worst-case scenario, Shakhtar will need at least a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in the final game if they win against Sociedad - but nobody wants to go into the final match without their onward passage already guaranteed. Also, a bad result won't put United in a good place ahead of a tricky visit to a wound-up Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. An unfavourable result tonight, and all United's early-season uncertainties may come bubbling back up to the surface.  So good luck in calling this one! And good luck in calling this season for United, who on the evidence so far could end up in mid-table with the cupboards bare, or spend the second half of May dancing around with all manner of silverware in their champagne-soaked mitts.  Kick off: 8.45pm in Germany, 7.45pm in the British winter system.
Minute-by-minute report: United qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League, ripping Leverkusen apart in their best performance so far of the David Moyes reign. Scott Murray was watching