Sevilla dumped Manchester United out of Europa League with a comeback 2-1 win in the first semifinal in Cologne on Sunday. United were made to regret not converting their bright start to the contest as they wasted several chances allowing their Spanish opponents to grow back into the game and enter the final.
Bruno Fernandes had given United an early lead in the ninth minute converting a spot-kick after being brought down in the danger zone. Sevilla were rattled early on by United forwards but they somehow managed to wave the storm.
Soon the equaliser came through Suso sending one past United goalie David de Gea in the 26th minute. The absorbing contest then Luuk de Jong coming off the bench to score the winner in the 78th minute firing in a Jesus Navas cross from the right.
The defeat means United’s three-year wait for a silverware continues while Sevilla will be eyeing a sixth Europa League trophy when they meet either Inter Milan or Shakhtar Donetsk in the final on Friday.
Sevilla manager Julen Lopetegui praised his team for showing resilience but also predicted “an extraordinary’ future for United. It was a game of resilience, of being able to compete to the limit as we have always done,” Lopetegui told Movistar. “Manchester United were the best team in England after the return from lockdown, they have an extraordinary path ahead of them.”
“There are few teams that have the central game of United. In the first half we managed to control them, in the beginning of the second half we didn’t and Bounou was fantastic. Then it balanced out and we had options to hurt them,” he added.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer rued the missed opportunities. “It’s one of them that if you take your chances you win comfortably,” Solskjaer told BT Sport. “But that’s not always the case in football. We had moments and spells in both halves where we should have, could have, scored quite a few. But when you don’t take them it’s going to be hard. We’ve got a young team – we had three years average less than them – and I thought in some spells today we showed this group of players will have to learn and get the consistency in their play.”
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