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.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag called on his players to use the frustration from their humbling defeat by Tottenham Hotspur as motivation to beat Porto in the Europa League on Thursday.
Following the 3-0 home loss to Spurs on Sunday, Ten Hag admitted his team’s mood could have been more positive.
“We are mad, mad with ourselves, especially when you lose a game like Sunday… but you have to deal with it. We are mad, and from the madness we have to get motivation,” Ten Hag told reporters on Wednesday.
“Always, when we are not winning we are disappointed and we are also mad with ourselves.”
United are 13th in the Premier League table and following a 1-1 draw with Dutch side Twente Enschede in the first Europa League match, Ten Hag said speculation about his job was inevitable.
“This club wants to be back on top and it’s a long-term target. We talk every day. Every day we evaluate and review the process and where necessary we make our decisions,” he said
“Everyone has to take responsibility and that starts with me as the manager. But on the pitch we have leadership skills and they have to stand up.
“Every game for us is important and every opponent is 100% motivated. We have to be ready to compete and fight with them.”
The Dutchman said midfielder Mason Mount, who was not part of the squad that travelled to Porto, was dealing with two injury issues and that defender Luke Shaw should return to action following the October international break.
-Reuters
Manchester United began their Europa League campaign with a 1-1 draw after they were held by FC Twente at a rainy Old Trafford on Wednesday, with a goal from Christian Eriksen being cancelled out by Dutch striker Sam Lammers.
The first half was a lively affair, with Twente’s Lammers making an early attempt that trickled past the post.
Eriksen put United ahead 10 minutes before the break, delivering a powerful curling shot into the top corner from inside the box.
Twente equalised in the 68th minute when Lammers produced a powerful finish past United keeper Andre Onana at the near post.
Joshua Zirkzee tried to get United in front again minutes later with a shot from an acute angle but were denied by a save from Twente keeper Lars Unnerstall.
Bruno Fernandes came close to scoring for United in the final minutes with a curling shot toward the top corner, but the hosts struggled to break through Twente’s deep-lying defence, which seemed content to secure the away draw.
DIA DOUBLE FOR LAZIO
Boulaye Dia scored a double and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru added another in the first half to hand Lazio a comprehensive 3-0 win against Dynamo Kyiv in Hamburg.
Nice and Real Sociedad played out a 1-1 draw. Ander Barrenetxea put the Basque side ahead before Pablo Rosario scored the equaliser for Nice.
Elsewhere, Turkish champions Galatasaray claimed a 3-1 home win over Greece’s PAOK thanks to Abdul Rahman Baba’s own goal and strikes from Yunus Akgun and Mauro Icardi. Giannis Konstantelias scored for the visitors.
In an early match, Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt secured a 3-2 home victory against FC Porto thanks to a brace from Jens Petter Hauge, despite going down to 10 men in the 51st minute.
-Reuters
It took Ajax 34 penalties to beat Panathinaikos 13-12 in a marathon shootout on Thursday, setting a UEFA competition record after their Europa League third qualifying round tie ended 1-1 over two legs and extra time.
Ajax, who won 1-0 at Panathinaikos last week, conceded in the 89th minute in Amsterdam, leading to the shootout that broke the previous record of 32 attempts at the European U-21 Championship semi-final in 2007 where Netherlands beat England 13-12.
The world record for the longest shootout was set in May when Israeli third-tier clubs SC Dimona and Shimshon Tel Aviv took 56 penalties to resolve their semi-final promotion playoff tie.
Ajax keeper Remko Pasveer made five saves and scored on his own attempt to help the hosts win the shootout as Dutch international Brian Brobbey missed two penalties.
“Five is quite a lot, yes. I save a penalty every now and then, but I don’t think you often experience something as crazy as this,” Pasveer said.
“Every time I thought we would do it. Brobbey behind the ball, we will do it. But he missed, while he always scores during training.”
Defender Anton Gaaei ultimately delivered the winning penalty for Ajax. The Eredivisie club will now face Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok in the playoff round later this month.
-Reuters
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