EUROPA League
David De Gea ignored instruction on penalty notes that would have won Man United Europa League
The Europa League final went to a penalty shootout, but Red Devils goalkeeper De Gea failed to save any of Villarreal’s spotkicks to see United defeated by Unai Emery’s side
According to Mail, David De Gea ignored the crucial instruction on his penalty notes that would have won the Europa League for Manchetser United.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side struggled to break down their Villarreal opponents, with Unai Emery’s side opening the scoring 16 minutes before half-time.
Gerard Moreno drifted past the United defenders to convert Dani Parejo’s free-kick, though the Red Devils did dominate after the break.
They equalised 10 minutes into the second-half when Marcus Rashford’s shot was diverted into the path of Edinson Cavani who slotted the ball in.
Neither side could find a breakthrough for the rest of the 90 minutes, with game going into extra-time.
That again failed to find a winner, with Unai Emery’s men forcing the final into a penalty shootout.Before the shootout took place, the Spanish keeper could be seen talking to United goalkeeping coaches Richard Hartis and Craig Mawson.
The coaches also handed him a note to stick inside his towel which gave an indication of which way each Villarreal penalty taker would go.
Goalscorer Moreno stepped up first, though De Gea had no instructions for which side the striker would put the ball.He then followed the instructions exactly for the next three penalty takers, though each player scored.
When Parejo stepped up, De Gea partially followed his instructions, but dived too late to stop the midfielder’s spot kick going in.
The shootout then entered sudden death, meaning one save could have been enough to win the final had United’s taker scored their penalty.
Moi Gomez stepped up to take Villarreal’s first spotkick of sudden death, with De Gea’s instructions informing him the Spaniard would go central.
The United keeper chose to ignore them, instead diving to his left, but had he followed the notes though, he would have saved it as Gomez put his penalty straight down the middle.
Crucially, had he stayed central instead of diving, United would have won the Europa League, as Fred scored United’s first penalty of sudden death.
He again followed the notes when Villarreal captain Raul Albiol stepped up, but the defender went the opposite way to the notes.
De Gea opted to ignore his instructions when Francis Coquelin took his penalty, but it did not matter with the midfielder going high to the keeper’s left rather than centrally.
The Red Devils star almost made a crucial save when Mario Gaspar made the long walk from the halfway line, but his hand was not strong enough to keep the penalty out of the net.
Despite the 30-year-old also ignoring his notes when Pau Torres took Villarreal’s 10 th penalty of the shootout, he did go the right way, though the defender put his spotkick high into the net.
There were no instructions when Gerónimo Rulli stepped up, with the Villarreal keeper blasting his high to De Gea’s left.
That meant De Gea had to score to keep United from losing, but Rulli made a save low to his left to win Villarreal’s first ever major trophy.
Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv will not accept any away fan tickets for their Europa League match at Aston Villa next month, even if local authorities reverse the decision to ban their supporters, they said on Monday.
The ban followed safety concerns raised by British Police, who cited potential protests outside Villa Park, following demonstrations at Israel’s recent World Cup qualifiers in Oslo and Udine.
“From hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context,” Maccabi said in a statement.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
Aston Villa announced the decision last week, saying they were following instructions from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), who are responsible for issuing safety certificates for games at Villa Park.
West Midlands Police described the match as high risk, past incidents, including violent confrontations and hate crime offences involving Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters ahead of a November 2024 game in Amsterdam.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the announcement as “shameful”.
Villa are third in the Europa League standings while Maccabi Tel Aviv are 30th after two rounds.
-Reuters
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Crystal Palace’s appeal against UEFA’s decision to drop them from the Europa League to the third-tier Conference League was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.
UEFA demoted Palace while allowing Olympique Lyonnais to play in the Europa League as, at the time of assessment on March 1, the Eagle Football Group were majority owners of Lyon while their chairman, John Textor, owned a controlling stake in Palace.
Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, will replace Palace in the Europa League.
“After considering the evidence, the panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA’s assessment date,” the CAS said in a statement.
“The panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL.”
Palace did not respond to a request for comment. Club chairman Steve Parish told reporters on Sunday that if Palace lost the appeal, they would “have to look if there’s any steps after that.”
The club, who qualified for the Europa League as FA Cup winners, appealed against UEFA’s decision last month.
The appeal came days before New York Jets co-owner Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson completed the purchase of Eagle Football Holdings’ stake in Palace.
Textor has also resigned from Lyon’s board of directors with Michele Kang appointed chairwoman and president.
As both Lyon and Palace had qualified for the Europa League, the French club were allowed to keep their place because they had finished higher in their respective league. Lyon finished sixth in Ligue 1 while Palace were 12th in the Premier League.
“Olympique Lyonnais welcomes today’s decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirming its participation in the Europa League,” Lyon said in a statement.
Palace, who won the Community Shield on Sunday , beating Liverpool in a penalty shootout, are set to play in the Conference League’s qualifying playoff round later this month.
-Reuters
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UEFA has decided to postpone its assessment of the multi-club ownership case involving Olympique Lyonnais and Crystal Palace until the French club’s relegation has been confirmed, European football’s governing body said on Monday.
The multi-club ownership regulations do not allow clubs under the same ownership compete in the same European competition, and American businessman John Textor holds a stake in both Palace and Lyon.
Palace qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup last season while Lyon reached the competition by finishing sixth in Ligue 1 but have since been relegated to Ligue 2 by French football’s financial watchdog (DNCG).
Lyon are appealing the decision, which came following an audit of the club’s finances, and UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body will now await the outcome of the appeal before making its decision.
UEFA and Lyon reached a settlement agreement over the club’s breach of the financial sustainability requirements, and as part of the settlement, Lyon agreed to their exclusion from European competition should the DNCG confirm their relegation.
League of Ireland club Drogheda United lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this month over their exclusion from the Conference League, after falling foul of the multi-club ownership rules.
-Reuters
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