Manchester United Eliminate Barcelona From Europa League
Manchester United came from behind to beat Barcelona 2-1 at Old Trafford and reach the Europa League last 16 on Thursday night.
Brazilian duo Fred and Antony, who came on as a half-time substitute, scored for Manchester United.
Barcelona had taken the lead through Robert Lewandowski’s 18th-minute penalty after Bruno Fernandes’ needless foul on Alejandro Balde.
Erik ten Hag’s side will face Newcastle in the EFL Cup final on Sunday looking to collect their first silverware since 2017.
For Barcelona, it was their first defeat since October and ended an 18-match unbeaten run.
Speaking after the match, Ten Hag described the performance by his charges as magnificent. BBC quoted him as saying:
It was a magnificent night. I think it is brilliant when you can beat Barcelona, eight points ahead of Real Madrid in La Liga and we have seen in this week Real Madrid playing.
A magnificent performance and we have to take it with us this season that we can win the games.
I think we have great personalities, starting with David, Rapha, Licha, Casemiro, Bruno, winning types.
Everyone has such a strong belief in this team and fight in this team and you can see it with the subs, they are bringing energy and quality and a different dynamic in games.
All the subs, not only in this game, did brilliantly.
Here are the other results from Europa League matches played on Thursday:
FC Midtjylland 0-4 Sporting CP
Monaco 2-3 Bayer Leverkusen (PEN)
Nantes 0-3 Juventus
PSV Eindhoven 2-0 Sevilla
Manchester United 2-1 Barcelona
Rennes 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk (PEN)
Roma 2-0 FC Salzburg
Union Berlin 3-1 Ajax
Note: teams in bold have qualified for the next round of the competition.
