Spain‘s Villarreal side beat Manchester United 11-10 in a penalty shootout to win the Europa League on Wednesday in Gdansk.
Edinsob Cavani had canceled Gerard Moreno’s first goal in front of 9,500 supporters, seated in the stands of the stadium in the Polish city.
Manchester United got off to a good start to put the pressure on and forced ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ to play defensively early in the period.
Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli saved Marcus Rashford’s effort from afar, while Edinson Cavani was unable to touch after a superb pass from Mason Greenwood found him in the penalty area.
Instead of shooting, Cavani tried to pass to Rashford and he missed a perfect chance to break the deadlock.
The “Red Devils” quickly paid a huge price for their ineffectiveness.
The team coached by Unai Emery woke up and tried to take the initiative to threaten De Gea.
Gerard Moreno found the net with 29 minutes on the clock.
Dani Parejo relaunched from a free kick, while Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof couldn’t stop Moreno.
He beat David de Gea from close by sending the ball to the near post, and Villarreal only needed one shot on target to lead 1-0 after the first half.
However, Manchester responded right after the break.
Scott McTominay’s shot was deflected over the bar by Torres, but in the 55th minute Cavani showed cruelty.
Luke Shaw found Rashford on a corner before the England striker struck a dangerous shot.
After three ricochets, the ball landed on the path of Cavani who was not mistaken.
The Old Trafford team continued their momentum in an attempt to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his first trophy as Manchester United manager.
It seemed that at one point the ‘Red Devils’ were on the verge of breaking the record for Villarreal, who won 11 games and only shot one in the European League campaign.
Manchester kept the ball in Villarreal’s half to create more chances.
But they only created one chance in the 71st minute, when Pau Torres made a crucial block to stop Cavani’s header after a quick attack from Luke Shaw from the left.
As it turned out, neither Manchester nor Villarreal found a decider in 90 minutes or overtime and the shootout had to be the decider.
Ten consecutive penalties were scored before goalkeeper Rulli became Villarreal’s hero.
The Argentine beat De Gea and then saved the Spaniard’s effort to lead his team to the trophy.
(NAN)
