Europa League: Sevilla 3-0 Manchester United, Union St. Gilloise 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen

The Europa League is Seville’s cup, it has always been said. But Manchester United will look back for a long time on the end of the first leg, when they were two goals up with just a few minutes from time, before suffering a comeback with two own goals. On the other hand, there is very little to say about the return: the disasters of the English defense open the way for the Andalusians, who are good at taking advantage of them mercilessly for the 3-0 final. The absence of Bruno Fernandes felt extremely for the Red Devils, unimaginative in the development of the maneuver. All easy for Bayer Leverkusen at Union Saint-Gilloise, with the match already being addressed after less than two minutes and managed without risking anything. The great journey of the Belgians remains, in any case, despite the 1-4 defeat.

Sevilla 3-0 Manchester United

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Ten Hag changes his United partly out of necessity (Bruno Fernandes disqualified and Martinez injured) and partly through turnover, proposing Eriksen behind Martial with Dalot and Wan-Bissaka on the outside in defense. Less experiments for Mendilibar, which begins with Ocampos, Rakitic and Lamela behind En-Nesyri. The Moroccan immediately breaks the balance: Maguire gets the ball stolen on the edge after exchanging with De Gea, the attacker collects pressure from Lamela and strikes the goalkeeper at the near post (8′). The Red Devils are off, Antony and Sancho are uninspired. Sevilla lose Marcao in the half hour, Suso comes in for him with Gudelj climbing into central defence. In the end of the first half, a goal from Ocampos rightly canceled due to Acuña’s offside position, while in full stoppage time Casemiro’s chest opposition was decisive on Rakitic’s shot that would have ended up on goal. The Dutch coach couldn’t be satisfied with his performances, so at the interval he replaced Sancho and Wan-Bissaka with Rashford and Shaw. There wasn’t even time to understand if the news had a positive effect as Sevilla doubled: in the 47th minute Bade deflected a corner from the left with his shoulder, the trajectory mocking De Gea with the help of the crossbar. The amount of play by the English increases as the minutes go by, Eriksen in the 72nd minute scares Bono with a free kick that ends just wide. The Andalusian triumph was achieved in the 81st minute: rugby postponed by the defence, En-Nesyri sprinted behind the midfield and De Gea awkwardly missed control outside the area, giving him only one ball to be kicked into an empty goal.

union st. gilloise-bayer leverkusen 1-4

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No training surprises. For the Belgians the usual 4-3-3 with Teuma inspiring the trident made up of Vertessen, Amani and Boniface, Xabi Alonso responds in kind with Wirtz, Diaby and Hlozek. Bayer Leverkusen unlocks the match after the first round of the clock: on a series of borderline rebounds, the Czech attacker fishes Diaby’s cut who discards Moris and supports with an empty net. The former Crotone player has another interesting chance, served this time by Wirtz, but he puts on the side. In the 38th minute the advantage of the guests increases: break from the usual Diaby in midfield, cross from Hlozek for Bakker who closes in on the far post. The tale of the Union Saint-Gilloise officially ends at game time, in the worst way. Bakker presses the opposing goalkeeper, the ball ends up in Frimpong who deposits it in the net. The 0-3 arouses a reaction in Geraerts’ team, who shortens in the 66th minute with Terho’s deflected shot following a corner kick, but it’s all useless: Bakker serves Diaby in depth who kicks, the shot is blocked and Hlozek drops poker in tap-in (79 ‘).