RED RAGGED
United stagger into Final but star man Bailly’s dismissal rules him out
MANCHESTER UNITED survived a late scare to sneak into the Europa League Final – but they will go without star defender Eric Bailly.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Marouane Fellaini nodded the Old Trafford men into an early lead that seemingly killed off Celta Vigo’s hopes.
But the La Liga men found a late breakthrough when Facundo Roncaglia beat his man to power in a header.
The home fans’ nerves were on edge before a scuffle in the middle of the park saw the Argentine scorer and stopper Bailly shown straight reds for violent conduct.
And with the last kick of the ball, United escaped disaster when Claudio Beauvue’s decision to pass instead of shoot saw the ball cannon off John Guidetti’s heels and away to safety.
United boss Jose Mourinho, who has won 11 of the last 13 finals his teams have competed in since 2003, will now face off against Ajax at Stockholm’s Friends Arena in MAN UTD WIN 2-1 ON AGG the showpiece on May 24. Mourinho said: “We were the best team in the first leg but we never kill, we never score goals related to the chances we have. It was an open game at home, all the pressure on our side.
“They were completely free of responsibility and gave us a very hard match.
“We suffered until the end and it was open until the last second. The boys gave everything they had. I’m pleased for them.
“If we win the Europa League, I’m more than happy. It’d be amazing.”
On Bailly’s sending off, he said: “I didn’t see the incident but Eric was phenomenal. The game was emotional for everyone. Some kept control better than others. “Roncaglia is not new in these situations, Bailly was probably naive. We lose a very important player for the Final and we don’t have many. “Ajax will be difficult. They are a young team, strong team, they finish the league this weekend and will have 12 days to recover. We have three matches in that time.” In a zippy opening spell Iago Aspas showed more attacking adventure in a few minutes than Celta did for most of the first leg. But that optimisim was crushed in 17 minutes. Marcus Rashford has the sweetest of right pegs and his assist for Fellaini’s header was more accomplished than his first-leg free-kick.
The deflation in Celta ranks was palpable although Sergio Romero did have to raise a hand to make a save from Pablo Hernandez.
Vigo found confidence after the break but former Celtic striker Guidetti’s poor finishing continued to let United off lightly.
But their huff and puff was deservedly rewarded in the 85th minutes when Roncaglia’s header flew in at the far post – another Celta goal and United were out.
Tempers exploded three minutes later. Bailly was involved in a mass bust-up in the middle of the pitch and the ref, after lengthy debate, sent off both the United stopper and Roncaglia – the feuding pair then had to be separated as they walked down the tunnel.
A final roll of the dice saw Celta go agonisingly close to a stunning turnaround when Beauvue found the ball at his feet but, again, Vigo let United off the hook.