Manchester United’s goalkeeper saves the day, Rashford’s brilliant goal seals progress to Europa League quarter-finals

The eighth-final stage of the Europa League continued with a duel between one of the main favourites for the title, Manchester United, and Spain’s Real Betis. The English side entered the match with a 4:1 lead from the first encounter and confirmed their role as favourites. Rashford scored the only goal of the second leg with a nice shot from distance.

The opening minutes offered hints of chances on both sides, but there were no scoring opportunities. However, in the eighth minute, there was more of an upset. The home side’s Ayoze Pérez released Juanmi and he fired just wide of the left post. Just a few minutes later, the Betis legend was recalled, with a shot from 41-year-old veteran Joaquin ending up on the post.

The Sevilla players showed a very active first fifteen minutes, which also got the fans fired up. Manchester couldn’t manage to get into the final stages and had to rather turn back. It wasn’t until the twentieth minute that the Red Devils got two shots on target, but Bruno Fernandes first headed over and his subsequent attempt was blocked.

From then on, the game became more even. In addition, Real Betis defender Juan Miranda had to join the match, replacing the injured Abner midway through the first act. Even after thirty minutes the match remained goalless.

After the weaker part of the half, the home side came to the fore again, Juanmi was saved by David de Gea in a one-on-one duel. The situation on the pitch then started to heat up, helped by the emotional reactions of the home supporters.

Although the home team was the better team, the score was 0:0. In stoppage time, the biggest chance of the game so far came when the visiting Pellistri hit the bar. Despite United’s chances, the game went to the booths without a goal.

The second half started with unsuccessful attacking attempts by both sides. The Premier League side had the first big opportunity when Fernandes brilliantly found Marcus Rashford, whose shot was stopped only by goalkeeper Rui Silva.

The other man in the gloves also had to shine. After a corner kick, Pérez headed the centre, but a great save from De Gea kept the goals still at nil. But that soon changed.

In the fifty-sixth minute, Rashford got to the ball and his shot from outside the box ended perfectly at the left post. The England team had already put their stamp on their progress to the quarter-finals.

And Erik ten Hag’s charges have been even more awake since the goal. Betis had to snuff out chances from Fernandes or substitute Marcel Sabitzer, and didn’t get into the offensive half at all themselves.

It was as if the green and white footballers had been shut out. The restart befell the home side after the 70th minute of the match, when Sevilla got into the attacking half after a quarter of an hour and managed to hold it for at least a while. The very short period ended with another onslaught by the English players.

Twenty minutes before the end, both teams realised that the eight-final was decided. And with that came a visible drop in tempo. Betis were at least trying to equalise, to reward the ever-supportive crowd. But most of the action ended with a goal missed by an imaginary steamer.

And when the chance came, Juanmi didn’t handle the ball in the box. Betis were simply out of luck. Even the English club didn’t take their chances and the match ended 1-0. With a 5-1 aggregate scoreline, Manchester United are now through to the quarter-finals and can challenge for at least one major trophy this season.

Source: Sport TV