Man United on course for Europa League final, Arsenal stumble
Manchester United handed Roma another heavy beating at Old Trafford, winning 6-2 yesterday thanks to doubles from Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes to move in sight of the Europa League final.
Fourteen years after getting thrashed 7-1 in the Champions League quarter-finals, Roma imploded again at the home of the English team after leading 2-1 at halftime in the first leg of the semifinals.
Cavani scored two of United’s five second-half goals, with Fernandes adding a penalty to his brilliantly taken first-half opener before Paul Pogba and substitute Mason Greenwood also netted.
United now look set to end their struggles in the semifinals of major competitions under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, having lost at this stage on four occasions in the past 16 months alone — including to Sevilla in last season’s Europa League.
The other semifinal is more finely poised, with Villarreal leading Arsenal 2-1 heading into next week’s second legs. Both teams finished the game with 10 men.
Roma will bemoan their misfortune with injuries, with midfielder Jordan Veretout, goalkeeper Pau Lopez and wing back Leonardo Spinazzola forced off inside the opening 37 minutes. That meant under-pressure manager Paulo Fonseca was unable to make a substitution after halftime.
Solskjaer was a member of the United side that routed Roma in 2007 and is now the manager of the first United team to score at least five goals in a semifinal in European competition.
“I don’t feel the job is done,” he said, “but it was a good job done.”
As a former striker, he can’t fail to have been impressed with the performance of Cavani, the 34-year-old Uruguayan who gave a clinic in how to lead the line — albeit against an obliging defense featuring former United player Chris Smalling.
It was Cavani who slipped in Fernandes to lift a finish over Lopez for United’s first goal in the ninth minute. And the striker produced an even better pass — with the outside of his right foot — to set free Greenwood for the sixth goal in the 86th.
In between, Cavani steered a shot into the top corner for the equaliser at 2-2 soon after halftime and tapped in from close range in the 64th to give United the lead after Lopez’s replacement, 37-yearold Antonio Mirante, fumbled a shot from Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
It was Cavani, too, who was fouled from behind by Smalling, after the striker had attempted a shot from Marcus Rashford’s cross, to allow Fernandes an opportunity from the spot for 4-2.
The Portugal playmaker made no mistake, and now has scored 20 of 21 penalties he has taken for United since joining in January 2020
“The goals we conceded were sloppy,” Smalling said, “and really ruined what we did in the first half.”
Indeed, Roma did well to fight back from conceding early, with Lorenzo Pellegrini converting a penalty of his own after a handball from Pogba before assisting Edin Dzeko for his customary goal at Old Trafford.
That’s six in five appearances at United’s stadium, having also scored there for Wolfsburg and Manchester City.
Emery has upper hand
In Spain, Unai Emery won the first battle against his former club as Villarreal defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the first leg of the semifinals.
Manu Trigueros and Rau´ l Albiol scored first-half goals to give the Spanish club the edge ahead of next week’s second leg in London. The English side pulled one back with a Nicolas Pepe penalty in the 73rd minute.
“We played a good match,” Emery said. “It’s a bit unfair that we didn’t get a better result, but it’s still a victory and we will try to finish the job in the second match.”
Arsenal got the important away goal while playing with 10 men after Dani Ceballos was sent off with a second yellow card in the 57th. Villarreal then had midfielder Etienne Capoue sent off after a second booking in the 80th.
“In the end we allowed them to stay alive,” Trigueros said. “We won, but looking at the match we should have done better. They leave with a bigger prize than they deserved.”
Villarreal are making its fifth attempt to reach a European final, having failed on all previous occasions, including against Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League and against Liverpool in the 2016 Europa League.
Arsenal are trying to return to the Europa League final for the second time in three years after losing the title to Chelsea in 2019 while under Emery’s command. That final was one of the highlights of the Spanish coach during his turbulent 18 months with Arsenal. He is in his first season with
Villarreal after being fired by the English club in November 2019.
Emery has thrived in the Europa League, having led Sevilla to three straight titles from 2014-16.
There were few significant scoring chances for either team at the Ceraˆmica stadium, but the hosts capitalised on their opportunities in the first half.
Villarreal opened the scoring five minutes into the match, with Trigueros finding the net with a low shot from inside the area after the Arsenal defence failed to clear the ball inside the area.
Villarreal added to the lead with Albiol scoring from close range off a corner kick in the 29th. The defender found the net after striker Gerard Moreno deflected the corner kick cross toward the far post.
Pepe’s goal came after a controversial penalty as Trigueros was adjudged to have tripped Bukayo Saka.
“It’s clear that it wasn’t a penalty,” Emery said. “Maybe they didn’t want to call back another penalty after what happened in the first half. The penalty really hurt us.”
Arsenal, led by Spanish coach Mikel Arteta, thought they had a penalty kick toward the end of the first half but the call was reversed after a video review showed there was a handball by Pepe before the foul happened.
Arsenal’s hopes of rallying appeared to take a hit when Ceballos was sent off for stepping on the leg of Villarreal playmaker Dani Parejo while trying to win the ball. But then Capoue was sent off for a foul on Saka. The Villarreal player was injured during the same incident and had to leave the field on a stretcher.
“After the way the game developed, you have to take the result,” Arteta said.
Moreno nearly added the third goal for the hosts less than 10 minutes after Ceballos was sent off, but his close-range shot was brilliantly saved by Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Arsenal had one final clear chance but substitute PierreEmerick Aubameyang’s attempt from inside the area was saved by Villarreal goalkeeper Gero´nimo Rulli.
“There’s a lot of positives that came in the second half,” Saka said. “We’ve given ourselves a chance at home.”