THE HANNI MONSTER!
MANCHESTER UNITED fell into a Hanni trap at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho’s men came into this Europa League showdown as firm favourites to progress to the last four.
This looked even more certain when European specialist Henrikh Mkhitaryan fired United ahead inside the opening 10 minutes with his fifth goal of the competition.
But Anderlecht went on to dominate the first half and stunned the home side with Sofiane Hanni’s 32nd-minute equaliser.
All the pressure was on Mourinho’s men before kick off, considering winning the Europa League would get them back into the Champions League next season, but the omens pointed heavily in their favour.
Final
United went into the clash having won all five of their home Europa League games this season, conceding just one goal in the process.
And they had not lost a European game at Old Trafford since going down to Real Madrid in the Champions League in 2013.
That run spanned 16 games and included 13 wins – and Anderlecht came to town still searching for their first win in England.
United reaching the final in Stockholm also seemed written in the stars, considering the most famous Swedish footballer of all, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is having a statue of himself built outside the Friends Arena.
Ibrahimovic returned for this game having been rested for the weekend visit of Chelsea when he wasn’t missed.
However, Mourinho was taking no chances here as he looked to close in on a place in the last four and also recalled Mkhitaryan as one of five changes, while Wayne Rooney was on the bench.
The visitors had spent the afternoon having a kickabout in the local Castlefield Park.
But when the serious stuff began, Rene Weiler’s men almost took a shock lead inside three minutes when Leander Dendoncker unleashed a long-range effort that dipped just over Sergio Romero’s bar.
Moments later Lukasz Teodorczyk failed to control a flighted ball in behind the United defence and the chance was gone.
It proved costly as the home side went ahead with their first real attack.
Paul Pogba sent Marcus Rashford racing into space down the left and when he picked out Mkhitaryan, the Armenian had time to