The Warm-Up: Saints' Christmas party ruined, as Mkhi dazzles

We are slap bang in the middle of Christmas party season and that means many a beer-induced hangover across the land as people wake up to pounding headaches and vague memories of photocopier abuse, gingerly peeling their drool-encrusted face off their novelty Christmas jumpers to slope into the office and try and salvage whatever dignity they have left after oh god firing some inappropriate jokes in the direction of the chief executive over cocktails at Be At One (no, The Warm-Up is not speaking from personal experience, how dare you).

The story is not so different at Southampton, a club left nursing a gnawing sense of shame in the pit of their stomachs the morning after the night before, after they found themselves knocked out of the Europa League after drawing 1-1 at home to Israeli real ale festival Hapoel Beer Sheva.

A 0-0 draw would have been enough for Southampton - and didn't they know it, putting in a limp and unambitious performance – but then Mar Bar Buzaglo scored after 78 minutes with Hapoel’s first shot on target and suddenly Saints were at panic stations. Virgil van Dijk got one back in injury time but Southampton were roused from their slumber far too late, with disastrous consequences.

Still, at least Jordy Clasie didn't grind inappropriately to 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day' with the new hire from accounts.

Speaking of office politics, The Friday Warm-Up has a workplace gripe it wants to unburden on you, dear readers. It feels undervalued, you see, compared to its daily colleagues. While Monday gets to enjoy the whole weekend of football and Wednesday and Thursday spend most weeks poring over the latest action from the glitzy Champions League, your trusted Friday edition is condemned to suffer the Europa League, like a crap waiter getting all the dead-beat shifts and no tips.

Let's be honest, it can be a bit of a slog wading through results from Azerbaijani light entertainer Gabala, Romanian aerospace giants Astra Giurgiu and Osmanlispor, the team founded by Leon Osman and his cousin, the guy from Pointless. So when something brilliant happens it really cheers us up. And something brilliant did happen last night. This:

It was Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s first goal for the club and another moment which makes you wonder just why it took so long for Jose Mourinho to bring him into the team. United's 2-0 win over Ukrainian long-haul shipping firm Zorya Luhansk also means they are safely through to the last-32 - and remember, if you win this damned competition you get upgraded to the Champions League. Must be nice.

There were 21 other games across Europe last night. There’s not enough space to list them all here - and frankly, who cares? - but this handy article rounds up who made it through. There is one final point of interest, though, as Sassuolo’s match against Genk was postponed due to fog and will be played at 11.30am today. Genk will finish top of their group if they win the match.

This grown adult was incredibly excited to get Paul Pogba's shirt last night. She looks like she’s just got her hands on Harry Styles’ jockstrap at a One Direction gig.

And don't miss the best goal of the night, scored by Villarreal’s Manu Trigueros.

Remember when you woke up to the news that a debate over what colour a dress was had taken over the internet? This morning, The Warm-Up’s Twitter timeline was reverberating to the sound of fried chicken being appraised with the clip below, only posted at 10.35pm last night, careering up to over 15,000 RTs at the time of writing. It’s highly entertaining – and the AA Gill of takeaways starring here kicks things off at Spurs so we are claiming a football link.

Harry Arter opens up to The Guardian's Stuart James about suffering an unimaginable loss, descending into a dark place and now how the memory of his stillborn daughter inspires him every day. It's a heart-wrenching read but, in its own way, very life-affirming too.

It’s your usual mix of English Championship, Scottish Premiership and a bunch of games in countries that we won’t be close pals with any more from March next year. Brighton v Leeds pits second against fourth so that’s not a bad option for your viewing pleasure on Sky Sports 1.