- Mkhitaryan strikes again
- Rojo, Zlatan hurt
- Hanni levels tie
- Rampant Rashford wins it
Marcus Rashford scored a deserved and decisive goal as dominant Manchester United needed extra time at Old Trafford to beat Anderlecht in the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals.
Tied 1-1 after the first leg in Belgium, Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored his second of the tie to give United an early lead before Sofiane Hanni forced extra time with an equalizer.
[ MORE: Zlatan hurt | Rojo, too ]
Jesse Lingard provided the match’s first threat, and Leander Dendoncker tempted the goal at the other end as both teams sought early control.
United broke through in the 10th minute, as Marcus Rashford benefited from his blocked cross returning to his feet. He was given two bounces to settle it, and Mkhitaryan hit a perfect shot past Anderlecht keeper Ruben.
Mkhitaryan gives United a 2-1 aggregate lead vs Anderlecht, but how about that ball from Pogba to Rashford?🔥 #UEL https://t.co/nsjZYn3oQS
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) April 20, 2017
Youri Tielemans saw a yellow card soon after for taking down a lively Rashford.
Ruben then poked a Paul Pogba shot over the bar for a corner before making a flying save on Jesse Lingard. United was ready.
Anderlecht got successive beneficial calls from the referee in the build-up to its equalizer. Hanni cleaned up a mess in the box after Tielemans struck the bar from outside the 18.
Rashford, 19, then roasted Dennis Appiah before forcing Ruben into conceding corner as United worked to reclaim the lead. Luke Shaw saw a shot collected by Ruben in the 40th minute.
[ MORE: Full lineups, stats, box score ]
5 - Henrikh Mkhitaryan has scored in five of his last six Europa League games for Man Utd. Specialist.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 20, 2017
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Anderlecht should’ve been up in the 48th minute, but Lukasz Teodorczyk took far too long with his breakaway and Antonio Valencia was able to slide and force a corner kick that led to nothing.
At the other end, Lingard’s intra-six slide just missed proper contact on Shaw’s terrific cutback.
Rashford beat Ruben on a 1v1 run break, but couldn’t catch the goal from an acute angle after being closed down by Appiah. Moments later, a ball fell for Ibrahimovic in front of goal, but the Swede was seemed uncharacteristically offguard and hit his low shot at Ruben.
The chances kept coming, especially for Rashford. In a sense it was a microcosm of their season: Clearly better than the opposition, but finish missing.
United then lost Ibrahimovic in stoppage time.
Rashford sent a rabona cross to the back post, and Pogba had a bicycle kick saved off the line by an Anderlecht defender.
The chances kept coming, with Fellaini unable to head on target off a corner kick.
Pogba had a goal pulled back when Fellaini was whistled for an over-the-back foul.
Tielemans cranked a shot that Romero spilled forward and collected as the first period of extra time came to a close.
That’s when Rashford struck, calmly maneuvering to strike a low left footed shot home.
It wasn’t over, as Romero had to act quickly to defy Frank Acheampong’s header in the 116th minute.
Martial was offside in a late bid to make it 3-1.
Marcus Rashford delivers the vital goal to send Man United through to the Europa League semifinals. #UEL https://t.co/dP1aCiVbcM
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) April 20, 2017