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EUROPA League

MANCHESTER UNITED FOLLOW MANCHESTER CITY IN CRASHING OUT OF EUROPE

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Like Manchester City crashing out of Champions League, Manchester United are  also out of the Europa League after Sevilla came from behind to reach the final. That is not all, their season is also over after more than a year and 61 games, and so too is English football’s involvement in Europe.

United were the last ones standing and they were still level in their Europa League semi-final with Sevilla at the RheinEnergie Stadion on Sunday night until the 78th minute.

Then Jesus Navas, previously of Manchester City, teased Brandon Williams on the right and sent in a cross. United’s defence were caught flat-footed and substitute Luuk de Jong, the former Newcastle United flop, turned the ball past David de Gea from close range.

It was harsh on United who had taken an early lead from Bruno Fernandes’s penalty only to concede an equaliser midway through the first half to Suso.

They were just about the better team and certainly created the better chances against the Europa League specialists from Seville who have won this competition five times in the last 16 years and are now unbeaten in 20 games.

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The Spaniards advance to the final here on Friday against either Inter Milan and or Shakhtar Donetsk and United will have the briefest of rests at the end of a marathon season.

This was a more open affair than their quarter-final win over FC Copenhagen, albeit one that became increasingly bad-tempered both on the pitch and the sidelines where the protestations of both teams echoed around the empty 50,000-seater arena.

Defeat will pain United, as will losing their third semi-final of the season. They will now go three years without a trophy for the first time since 1990.

United threatened again soon after the restart, Boubou saving from Martial and Fernando blocking Rashford’s follow-up effort. 

Five-time winners Sevilla will play Inter Milan or Shakhtar Donetsk in Friday’s final.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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