Manchester United went into the second leg contest off the back of a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford but conceded an early goal when Youssef En-Nesyri took advantage of a defensive slide to put the former Spanish side ahead.
After a minute of second-half play, Loic Bade’s shoulder strike from an Ivan Rakitic corner soaring the ball over David De Gea to increase the home side’s lead. De Gea rushed out of his goal to grab the ball, but his touch only let in En-Nesyri, who pounced to make it 3-0 and set up a semi-final meeting with Juventus.
Both teams began the game by moving the ball around in their assigned penalty areas without properly putting David De Gea or Yassine Bounou in goal. Only seven minutes into the game, however, De Gea’s short pass found Harry Maguire just outside the area. The Reds captain attempted a first-time pass to Aaron Wan-Bissaka, but it was thwarted quickly by En-Nesyri, who pounced by firing the ball home to put the home side ahead.
United finally broke through midway through the half, with Jadon Sancho performing past Jesus Navas on the left wing. The Reds winger fed Antony on the edge of the box, who shot first time but it redirected off Marcel Sabitzer, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka selecting it up and hitting a low prompted shot straight into Bounou’s arms.
The six-time Europa League champions would then look for their second title. Nemanja Gudelj floated the ball onto En-Nesyri’s head with a perfect rabona pass. The Moroccan striker acknowledged the ball into the path of Lucas Ocampos, nevertheless De Gea was able to come off his line and clear the ball.
A second goal for Sevilla appeared to have dealt a crushing blow to our hopes. Marcos Acuna intercepted Casemiro’s pass and played a quick give-and-go pass with En-Nesyri before supplying Ocampos. The South American criticised a shot past De Gea for what appeared to be his team’s second goal of the game, but VAR determined that Acuna was in an offside position when giving the cross, resulting in the goal being overturned.
Ocampos managed to break through the United defence just before the half’s end to deliver an hazardous cross, which Antony encouraged behind for a corner.
With another early goal in the second half, the home team quickly took control of the game. Rakitic’s corner found Bade, who got better of Casemiro and the ball soared off his shoulder, over De Gea’s outstretched hand and off the bar to put Sevilla up 2-0.
Rakitic then came within inches of breaking the tie for the hosts with a stretching strike that forced De Gea to make the save. The consequent corner fell to Ocampos, who attempted a close-range tap-in before a scramble between United and Sevilla players ensued, with Casemiro subsequently smashing it clear.
Casemiro received a yellow card after bringing down Nemanja Gudelj near the centre circle. If the Reds had won, the Brazilian enforcement would have missed the initial leg of the Europa League semi-final.
Casemiro had United’s first chance of the second half with half an hour remaining. Sabitzer was able to pass it to the Brazilian midfielder, who attempted a long-range hit with his left foot via just outside the area, forcing Yassine Bounou to leap to his right to make the save.
Put Thursday's result behind us and move on to the next game.
That's the message from Christian Eriksen 👊#MUFC || #UEL
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 21, 2023
When United won a free kick near the Sevilla penalty area, Christian Eriksen tried his luck from long range. Eriksen, as well as substitutes Marcus Rashford and Fred, gathered around the ball before Denmark international chose to step up and strike the ball, but the shot sailed just wide.
De Gea’s mishandling of a hopeful long ball with 10 minutes remaining allowed Sevilla to capitalise and cover the game with a third goal. En-Nesyri calmly wrapped the ball within the Spaniard from a long distance out to add insult to injury for the Reds.
