EUROPA League
LIVE – EUROPA LEAGUE: SEVILLA 2-1 MANCHESTER UNITED- Odion Ighalo in
FULL-TIME: Sevilla 2-1 Manchester United
Manchester United are out of the Europa League
Manchester United have scored twice or more in 15 of their last 21 games. They need another one now!Substitution
Ighalo (in) – Greenwood (out) (Man. United).
+6 Added time
Sevilla 2-1 Manchester United
90min: United have six minutes to find an equaliser to this goal (below) that looks set to take Sevilla to the Europa League fina.
90 mins: Sevilla 2-1 Man. United
Substitution
88 mins: Fosu-Mensah (in) – Wan-Bissaka (out) (Man. United).
Sevilla 2-1 Manchester United
84min: There is a check for a United penalty after a foul inside the box, but it is quite rightly waved away as United begin to desperate.
GOAL! SEVILLA 2-1 Manchester United
78min: Luuk de Jong hasn’t scored in his last 11 games but he peels off Aaron Wan-Bissaka to tap home a half volley following a cross from the right. Poor defending from United who are in real danger of losing in the semi-finals for the third time this season.
GOAL! SEVILLA 2-1 Manchester United
Gooooal!
L. de Jong (Sevilla) scores!
Sevilla substitution
75min: A third change for Sevilla as goalscorer Suso departs to be replaced by Franco Vazquez.
70 mins: Odion Ighalo and two other players are warming up for United. The other two are Mata and Fosu-Mensah. Also three players are warming up for Sevilla.- Gudelj, Torres and Vázquez for Sevilla.
Sevilla 1-1 Manchester United
65min: Marcus Rashford is the latest Manchester United player booked, rather needlessly too as he sees yellow for bouncing the ball down in anger in a show of dissent after a throw in call goes against him.
Double Sevilla substitution
56min: Changes for Sevilla. Lucas Ocampos appears to have picked up a knock and he is replaced by Munir El Haddadi while Luuk de Jong, once of Newcastle United, comes on for Youssef En-Nesyri
A better statistic for United is that, before tonight, their last eight goals had been scored in either the second half or extra time.
Sevilla 1-1 Manchester United
47min: Big chance already for Manchester United! Bruno Fernandes finds Mason Greenwood with a ball over the top, but despite an excellent first touch from the striker inside the box, his finish is blocked by the charging Yassine Bounou out his goal.
The penalty kick scored by Bruno Fernandes in the 9th minute is Manchester United’s 22nd in all competitions this season. No other club in the top five leagues in Europe has been so blessed.
The penalty kick was also Manchester United’s fifth in the Europa League this season.
The referee blows for half-time.
United started the better and rewarded with the early penalty from Fernandes but Sevilla took advantage of their best spell when levelling through Suso. Since then, it has been more even but fiercely competitive and you would be hard pressed to pick a winner as it stands.
It’s half time
+2 Added time45′
45 mins: Rashford (Man. United) misses the target.
Fred and Williams work the ball out left where Rashford is in space. He cuts inside but shanks the shot harmlessly wide of the near post.
Sevilla 1-1 Manchester United
Pogba hasn’t been at his best so far, but the Frenchman did excellently to retrieve possession deep inside the United half before releasing Greenwood. Solskjær will hope there’s more to come from the midfielder in the second half.
38min: United now have a free-kick about 35 yards out following an Ever Banega foul. Marcus Rashford appears to be lining up a shot. Surely too far out?
Match summary
- United lead Sevilla in Cologne
- Bruno Fernandes scores from penalty
- Rashford fouled by Diego Carlos
- Winners face Inter/Shakhtar in final
- GOAL! Sevilla 0-1 MANCHESTER UNITED
GOAL! SEVILLA 1-1 Manchester United
26min: Slight controversy with this. United should have a throw in, but instead it goes to Sevilla who from the set-piece build an attack down the left with Sergio Reguilon crossing low for former Liverpool player Suso to divert home at the back post.
9min: I know Manchester United and constantly being awarded penalties has been a talking point thise season, but there was no debating the foul on Marcus Rashford and with a skip in his jump, Bruno Fernandes buries his spot-kick into the top corner.
9mins: PENALTY (Manchester United)
Marcus Rashford has a shot saved from point blank range by the keeper but he is brought down on the follow up by Diego Carlos.
KICK-OFF: Manchester United get the semi-final underway
Sevilla: Bounou, Jesus Navas, Kounde, Diego Carlos, Reguilon, Banega, Fernando, Jordan, Suso, En-Nesyri, Ocampos.
Subs: Vaclik, Sergi Gomez, Munir, Gudelj, Escudero, de Jong, Torres, Franco Vazquez, Alonso, Diaz, Genaro, Perez.
Man Utd: De Gea, Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Williams, Fred, Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes, Pogba, Rashford, Martial.
Subs: Bailly, Mata, Grant, Lingard, Andreas Pereira, James, Romero, Fosu-Mensah, Ighalo, Matic, McTominay, Mengi.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
Will another Manchester club crumble tonight after last nights flop by Manchester City? Manchester United would have learnt a lesson or two from their city rivals as they engage La Liga side, Sevilla in today’s Europa League semi-finals.
Manchester United will be hoping for their second final appearance in the Europa Cup after their success four years ago.
But their Spanish opponents however have an incredible history in the competition going on to become its five-time record winners since first lifting the trophy as recently as 2006.
The clubs have been paired together in UEFA competition once previously, Sevilla knocking United out of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 two seasons ago thanks to a 2-1 win at Old Trafford after a first-leg goalless draw in southern Spain.
Solskjær on his team’s fitness levels ahead of United’s 61st game of the campaign: “We’ve had many days to prepare so that means it’s also a good recovery and we should be physically fresh. Mentally, of course, you’re physically ready for a game in the semi-final. Everyone wants to play it.”
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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