Manchester United settled its position with its Spanish guest Barcelona 2-1 and qualified for the final price of the “Europa League”, by defeating it 2-1 in the second leg of the play-off.
And after they became accustomed to the lights of the Champions League, which brought them together twice in the final in 2009 and 2011, when Barcelona emerged victorious, the two giants found themselves wrestling over the qualification ticket to the final price of the “Europa League” as a result of the Catalan club coming third in its group in the Champions League and United second in its group in “Europa”. legg”.
The first chapter of this match ended in a 2-2 draw, so that the decision would be Thursday at “Old Trafford.” The Brazilian Anthony had the final word by scoring the second goal in the 73rd minute, giving United its first continental victory over the “Blaugrana” since the second leg of the semi-finals of the 2007-2008 season when He won 1-0 on his way to the title.
United, who occupies third place in the domestic league, three points behind leaders Arsenal, once again confirmed that it is able to go far under the leadership of its new Dutch coach, Eric ten Hag, who awaits the opportunity to crown the first on Sunday in the League Cup final against Newcastle, ending the series of consecutive matches for the leaders of the Spanish League. unbeaten at 18.
And after a start in favor of United, who was close to opening the scoring through his Portuguese captain Bruno Fernandez, the latter turned from a hero into a villain for causing a penalty kick after dropping Alex Baldi in the forbidden area, so the Polish Robert Lewandowski approached her and hit it with some hesitation, allowing the Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea to touch The ball, but did not prevent it from entering his net (18).
Leva raised its tally to 25 goals in 30 games this season in Barcelona’s colors in all competitions, scoring 25 goals or more for the twelfth consecutive season, according to Opta statistics.
Through Fernandez and the Brazilians Fred and Rafinha, United tried to return to the match, but without success, so the first half ended with Barcelona’s lead.
But the “Red Devils” struck at the beginning of the second half and equalized after Barcelona’s defensive confusion and the loss of the ball from Ivorian Frank Kessier, and it reached Fernandez, who in turn passed it to Fred, so the latter fired it with his right to the left of German goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (47).
United continued its advantage, but the most dangerous opportunity was for its guest with a header by Frenchman Jules Conde. De Gea shone in blocking it (64), before Anthony succeeded in snatching the lead for the Ten Hag team with a third attempt on the Catalan goal, after the first two rebounds from the defense through Argentine Spanish substitute Alejandro Garnacho, then Fred before The ball fell in front of Anthony, who fired it beautifully into the net (73).
