Manchester United got rid of the “ordeal” of its historic 7-0 loss against its host and arch-rival Liverpool in the English Premier League, after achieving a huge 4-1 victory over its Spanish guest, Real Betis, on Thursday, in the first leg of the 16th round of the continental competition.
At Old Trafford, Marcus Rashford opened the scoring early for Manchester United in the sixth minute, but Ayoze Perez equalized for Betis in the 32nd minute.
In the second half, Anthony added United’s second goal in the 52nd minute, before his Portuguese colleagues Bruno Fernandez and Dutchman Foot Fijhorst added the third and fourth goals for the English team in the 58th and 83rd minutes, respectively.
This great victory comes to “relatively” alleviate the state of frustration that dominated Manchester United fans over the humiliating loss that the team suffered at (Anfield) in its last match in the English Premier League.
It has become sufficient for Manchester United to lose by two goals in the return match, which will take place in the Spanish city of Seville, next Thursday, in order to continue its campaign towards crowning the continental title.
Seville took a good step towards reaching the quarter-finals as well, after its precious 2-0 victory over Fenerbahce.
The goals of the match came in the second half by Juan Jordan and Eric Lamela in the 56th and 85th minutes, respectively.
Juventus settled for a 1-0 dull victory over Freiburg, where the only goal of the match came by its veteran Argentine star, Angel Di Maria, in the 53rd minute.
A 1-1 draw imposed itself on Shakhtar Donetsk’s meeting with Feyenoord Rotterdam, where the Ukrainian team advanced with a goal through Yaroslav Rakitsky in the 79th minute, but Azviel Boulud scored the equalizer in the 88th minute.
