Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EUROPEAN LOCKDOWN
Richarlison’s header closes the book on Blades’ high hopes of foreign adventure next season
SHEFFIELD UNITED’S Europa League dream is over after Richarlison ended Everton’s fourgame winless run last night.
Blades boss Chris Wilder has spent most of the season engineering a minor miracle in the hope it would lead to European competition for the first time in the club’s 130-year history.
But this crushing defeat snuffed that out.
Richarlison’s 46th-minute header for what proved the only goal of the game lit up an otherwise dire contest.
It was no more than Carlo Ancelotti’s men deserved against a Sheffield United side lacking their usual energy and sharpness, despite being the ones with most to gain from a victory.
Wilder kept faith with the same side that lost to Leicester and included Ben Osborn, David Mcgoldrick and Sander Berge - despite hauling all three of them off at the start of the second half against the Foxes.
Ancelotti gave a first league start to 18-year-old defender Jarrad Branthwaite. The youngster, who joined from Carlisle for £1million in January, replaced the injured Mason Holgate.
Everton should have been ahead after fashioning the two best chances of the opening exchanges.
Theo Walcott was the first to threaten when he found space on the right and flashed a wicked ball across the face of the Blades goal, but no team-mate was on hand to connect.
Moments later, the impressive Andre Gomes played in Dominic Calvertlewin, but the striker’s control betrayed him and keeper Dean Henderson was able to snuff out the danger.
Henderson had his right hand post to thank for keeping out Calvert-lewin’s header from a Walcott cross on the stroke of half time as the Blades continued to look somewhat blunt.
And their luck finally ran out within a minute of the second half starting when Richarlison guided Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free-kick past Henderson with a smart header to end both the stalemate and tedium.
Henderson did well to prevent Calvert-lewin’s deflected shot from making it 2-0 before the hour mark as Ancelotti’s men tried to kill off the game.
Henderson, on loan from Manchester United, wants to return to Old Trafford next season to replace David De Gea following the Spaniard’s shocking loss of form - and did his chances no harm.
However, most of his team-mates were not at the same level, the Blades’ otherwise outstanding home campaign finishing in limp fashion, with visiting keeper Jordan Pickford (below) rarely troubled.
Wilder was still delighted with how his men usually punched above their weight against clubs with far bigger budgets. He said: “The top six should never have been in the equation from the minute we set foot into the division. We have ridiculously overachieved.”
Ancelotti added: “The key thing was the fighting spirit and concentration we had all game.”