Arsenal grab crucial away goal; Man U win
MADRID: Unai Emery won his big reunion with Arsenal but 2-1 might prove a small reward for Villarreal, who failed to take advantage of Dani Ceballos being sent off in a frantic Europa League semi-final first leg on Thursday. Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol gave Villarreal a dream start at La Ceramica and the tie looked to be slipping away from Arsenal when Ceballos was shown a second yellow card early in the second half.
But 10-man Arsenal rallied and grabbed an away goal when Nicolas Pepe converted a penalty in the 73rd minute, before Villarreal’s Etienne Capoue also saw red with 10 minutes left to play.
Pierre-emerick Aubameyang might even have snatched a late equaliser for the visitors but Mikel Arteta will be delighted his team are not just in the contest but in a healthy position too, with an away goal to take back to London next week. “It changes completely the tie. It makes a huge difference,” said Arteta.
“We know we are there, we have to be better and if we are we will have the chance to be in the final.” For Villarreal, a chance was missed but the lead is still welcome and Emery will take comfort from the fact that they were the better side for the best part of an hour, even before Ceballos was dismissed. “Things went for us and against us but we have to keep believing,” said Emery.
United on song
MANCHESTER: Bruno Fernandes and Edinson Cavani scored twice each as Manchester United took a giant step towards the Europa League final with a 6-2 drubbing of AS Roma. United’s run of four semi-final losses under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should be ended after next week’s second leg in the Italian capital after Fernandes and Cavani gave a display of class, providing two assists each to go with their goals. Roma paid the price for three first-half injuries, including to goalkeeper Pau Lopez, which forced them to use all three sub windows before going in 2-1 up at the break.
But that should not disguise the impact of the quality provided by Portuguese midfielder Fernandes and Uruguayan forward Cavani which the visitors simply had no answer to.
Fernandes’s early opener was quickly cancelled out by Lorenzo Pellegrini’s penalty before Edin Dzeko put Roma in front at halftime. But the Italians lost three players to injury before the break and United took advantage with a dominant second-half performance. Two predatory finishes from Cavani turned the tie around before Fernandes also fired home from the spot. Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood rounded off the scoring in a sensational second-half performance.
It wasn’t quite a repeat of United’s 7-1 win over Roma in the Champions League last eight in 2007, but it should give Solskjaer a chance to secure his first silverware as manager.
“I don’t feel the job is done. We did a good job and did well but we know they have quality,” said the Norwegian.