A roundup of all of Thursday’s action in the Europa League group stage…
[ MORE: Top Premier League storylines: Week 6 ]
Manchester United 1-0 Astana
Most of Man United: bad. Mason Greenwood: good.
When the likes of Marcus Rashford, Juan Mata and Jess Lingard failed to create and finish a decisive moment against Kazakh side Astana, it was the 17-year-old who not only scored the game’s only goal in the 73rd minute, but appeared a cut above the rest in his first start of the season. Greenwood was the most active and accurate of United’s attacking quartet and a rare bright spot for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
Despite out-shooting Astana by a margin of 20-3 (7-0 on target), United appeared headed for an embarrassing draw until late in the second half. Greenwood’s goal made him United’s youngest-ever goalscorer in European competition.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Braga
Elsewhere in England, Wolves were equally disappointing in suffering a home defeat to Portuguese side Braga. Ricardo Horta scored the game’s only goal in the 71st minute, punishing Wolves on the counter-attack with a simple finish past Rui Patricio.
Wolves enjoyed the lion’s share of possession (60 percent), but created very few chances of merit. Braga sat deeper and offered Wolves precious little space to play into in the final third, and it wasn’t until Diogo Jota came on in the 75th minute, already down a goal, before Nuno Espirito Santo’s side came to life and looked likely to score a goal.
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3 Arsenal — FULL RECAP
Joe Willock opened the scoring, followed by a goal from 18-year-old Bukayo Saka and a late insurance tally from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and that was the recipe for Arsenal’s simple success away to last season’s UEL semifinalists.
Arsenal finished the game up a man after Dominik Kohr saw yellow for the second time in the 79th minute. The points were hardly in the bag at that point, as goals no. 2 and 3 came after Kohr’s dismissal.
Other notable Europa League results
Roma 4-0 Istanbul Basaksehir
CFR Cluj 2-1 Lazio
Wolfsburg 3-1 Olexandria
Borussia Monchengladbach 0-4 Wolfsberger
Qarabag 0-3 Sevilla
Getafe 1-0 Trabzonspor
Espanyol 1-1 Ferencvaros
PSV Eindhoven 3-2 Sporting CP
Porto 2-1 BSC Young Boys
Gent 3-2 Saint-Etienne
Rennes 1-1 Celtic
Rangers 1-0 Feyenoord