EUROPA League
Ajax Dangerous Youngster, Dolberg, Warns Man. U
As the clock ticks down to the kick off of Wednesday’s Europa Cup final match, Kasper Dolberg, who at 19 and could be the youngest player on the pitch is hoping to increase his goal haul when his Ajax Amsterdam faces Manchester United.
Sports Village Square gathered from UEFA that the player is very optimistic of a positive result that will turn a disappointment for Manchester United.
Ajax’s skipper, Davy Klaassen told Uefa.com about Dolberg’s first season in the squad. “I don’t think the plan was for him to become a regular so quickly.”
The 19-year-old Kasper Dolberg is the club’s six-goal UEFA Europa League top scorer. Klaassen, for one, is impressed by the Dolberg’s quiet efficiency: “He is very relaxed and doesn’t talk a lot, but when he’s in front of goal you know he’s going to score.”
Sports Village Square gathered that the stronger the opposition, the more efficient Ajax Amsterdam became as the Europa League progressed. Dolberg therefore informed uefa.com that he was looking forward to facing Manchester United.
“There are many reasons. We have a good team with good players. We have played very well. The better the teams we’ve faced, the better we’ve played.
“I’m proud to be part of that. It’s only my first year as a professional player, but it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever experienced in club football.”
On the clash with Manchester United he said: “They are a team with a lot of stars and many great players, but there have been times this season when they haven’t performed that well.
“They have a lot of stars and a lot of fantastic players, but if they are not at their best, that doesn’t matter. We play to win. I don’t think there is a reason for us to be afraid.
“We just have to go out there and do our best and we will see what happens. It would mean a lot for the club and the city to win it. You can really feel that; every time we play at home, it’s something special.
“You can just feel all the support we get, not only at the stadium but all over the city. It’s huge and it’s been a great experience. It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen next, but I’m sure it’s going to be great.
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian’s costly mistakes in his side’s 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.
Onana allowed Thiago Almada’s free kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki’s last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League club’s goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana.
“It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes,” Amorim said. “If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.
“The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, this is the best way to help any player, it’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve.”
United nonetheless remain unbeaten in this season’s Europa League — the only side to do so this term — after goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee put them on course for a potential victory.
The team, who are 13th in the English Premier League standings, still go into next week’s second leg in Manchester as favourites to book a spot in the last four.
“It was an entertaining game,” Amorim added. “We had some difficulty in the first half trying to press, because Lyon played in a different way. Then, in the middle of the first half and especially the second, we controlled the game.
“The second leg will be a different game. At home, our fans want us to press all the time.”
-Reuters
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Manchester United will be without defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Manuel Ugarte for Thursday’s Europa League last-16 clash with Real Sociedad, coach Ruben Amorim said, as he seeks to salvage an otherwise dire season.
The pair were left out of an already depleted squad after picking up injuries in last weekend’s penalty shootout defeat to Fulham that dumped them out of the FA Cup to compound the misery of lying 14th in the Premier League.
“We are being careful with them because at the moment we cannot afford to lose any more players for a long time,” Amorim told a press conference on Wednesday before the Europa League first leg game in Spain.
“We are taking care of them at Carrington (training ground) and they cannot play this game because it will be a greater risk.”
The coach, who joined United in November, stressed the importance of balancing youth development with the needs of the squad during a worsening injury crisis.
“I’m trying to cope with everything. When I do my squad, I’m trying to think about every aspect, of the formation of the (new) kids, of the squad and not if it will look really well with the fans and the media,” Amorim said.
Altay Bayindir, Tom Heaton, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount remain on individual rehabilitation programmes.
Lisandro Martinez, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament, and Amad Diallo, who suffered an ankle ligament injury in training, are also sidelined.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes scored a last-gasp winner to secure a 2-1 victory over Rangers in the Europa League group stage on Thursday and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min struck twice in his team’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim.
United climbed to fourth in the standings on 15 points going into the last round of matches, in a strong position to reach the knockout phase along with Spurs who are sixth with 14 points.
The English side broke the deadlock early in the second half when Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland misjudged a Christian Eriksen corner, sending the ball into his own net.
Rangers fought back with an equaliser from substitute Cyril Dessers two minutes from time before Fernandes struck in added time to give United all three points.
In Germany, James Maddison opened the scoring for Spurs in the third minute and Son doubled the lead in a first half the visitors dominated.
Hoffenheim pulled one back in the 68th minute through Anton Stach’s counter-attack goal. Son restored Spurs’ two-goal lead in the 77th minute before the hosts’ David Mokwa scored to give his side late hope but the game ended in a narrow win for the English side.
Lazio stayed top of the standings with a commanding 3-1 home victory over Real Sociedad to become the first team to qualify for the round of 16.
Mario Gila struck after five minutes and when Sociedad’s Aihen Munoz was shown a second yellow card on the half-hour mark, Lazio immediately seized the advantage.
Mattia Zaccagni quickly doubled the lead and Taty Castellanos effectively ended the match with a third for the hosts. Ander Barrenetxea scored a late consolation goal for Sociedad.
Eintracht Frankfurt moved closer to securing a top-eight spot with a 2-0 home win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros thanks to second-half goals from Can Uzun and Hugo Ekitike. They are second in the standings with 16 points, three ahead of ninth-placed Galatasaray.
A late goal from Troy Parrott gave AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 home win over AS Roma and Olympiacos earned a 1-0 victory at Porto thanks to a late goal from Ayoub El Kaabi.
Dutch side Alkmaar can still reach the top eight with 11 points sitting in 14th place while Roma’s nine points place them 21st, close to the bottom of the playoff section.
Fenerbahce and Olympique Lyonnais played out an intense goalless draw in Istanbul, leaving the French side in a strong position to progress to fifth place in the group on 14 points.
-Reuters
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