Marouane Fellaini Yet to Prove He Belongs on the Champions League Stage

Marouane Fellaini was bought for nights like these—Champions League games away from home, played in hostile environments, when the result is decided as much by strength of character as by skill and technical ability.

Shakhtar Donetsk aren't the same team that beat Chelsea in last season's competition.

Star names like Fernandinho and Willian have moved on.

But the Donbass Arena, filled with 50,000 screaming Ukrainian fans waving shirts over their heads in temperatures just above freezing, is still an unpleasant place to go.

It's a place that should suit Fellaini, who likes to conduct games with a two-by-four rather than a slender baton.

It says much than that, with more than 20 minutes to go and Manchester United holding on to a slender lead, that David Moyes replaced the Belgian with Ryan Giggs, a 39-year-old making a record number of Champions League appearances.

Simply put, it wasn't Fellaini's night. 

And there were very few chants of 'United afro, United afro' drifting off into the Donetsk night.

Next to Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley in the centre of midfield, with Danny Welbeck and Antonio Valencia on the touchlines, it should have been a night to show off his qualities.

He wasn't helped by a pedantic referee, but passes went astray too many times and his first touch sometimes resembled a child's first ever touch of a football.

It was a night when he should have kept calm and passed to Carrick.

Instead, Moyes was left pulling his hair out.

He had his good moments.

After 18 minutes, he used his strength and physique to hold the ball up, roll his defender, and cross for Welbeck to poke United in front.

But it was one of too few positives from a man who has cost £27.5m.

His size and stature make it easy to forget that Fellaini is still a young man. 

And at 25, he's still learning about the Champions League.

He might have 42 caps for Belgium, but he's never been to a major tournament and he's discovering that Europe's top club competition is another step up.

Like the manager who signed him, Fellaini has endured a difficult start to life at Old Trafford.

He's yet to win over a majority of the fans who had hoped to see Thiago Alcantara or Cesc Fabregas in a redshirt this season.

Stuttering performances against City and Shakhtar haven't helped his case. 

And, at the moment, he's wearing the big fee like an over-sized albatross around his neck.

But given Moyes' lack of options in midfield, Fellaini will get plenty more chances to impress.

Cleverley or Anderson have yet to show this season that they are more capable.

United's point in Donetsk means they can look forward with confidence to their next European game, against Real Sociedad at Old Trafford.

Three wins at home and three draws away would secure safe passage through to the knock-out rounds after Christmas.

It will give Fellaini more opportunities to prove he belongs at this club. And on this stage.