In Sunday’s first semifinal in Cologne, Sevilla beat Manchester United 2-1 in the Europa League. United regretted not turning their brilliant start to the competition as they had wasted many chances to give their Spanish opponents a chance to regroup and enter the final.
Bruno Fernandez gave United an early lead in the ninth minute of converting a spot-kick after being rolled into the dangerous zone. Sevilla had been rebuked by United forwards but they somehow managed to wave the storm.
The equalizer came with Suso sending former United goalie David De Gaia in the 26th minute. The absorption competition then saw Luc de Jong get off the bench and score the winner in the 78th minute with a shot from the right by Jesus Nawaz Cross.
The defeat means United’s three-year wait for the silverware continues and Sevilla will see the sixth Europa League trophy when they meet Inter Milan or Shaktar Donetsk in Friday’s final.
Sevilla manager Julen Lopetegui praised his team for their resilience but also icted a “fabulous” future for United. This is a game of resilience that we can always compete with to the limit, ”Lopetegui told Movistar. “Manchester United have been England’s best side since their return from lockdown. They have a formidable path ahead of them.”
“There are some teams that United have a central game. We managed to control them in the first half, we didn’t in the second half and Bounoue was great. Then it was balanced and we had options to hurt them,” he said.
United manager Ole Gunnar ruined Solzger’s chances. “If you take your chances you’ll win comfortably,” Soulsjer told BT Sport. “But it’s not always the case in football. We have moments and spells on both sides where we must have, may have, scored a few points. But it can be difficult when you don’t take them. We’ve got a young team – we have an average of three years less than them – and today in some spells we have to learn this group of players and get the consistency of their game. ”
