UEL: Manchester United down Granada to set up semifinal tie with Roma

Manchester United cruised into the Europa League semi-finals with a 4-0 aggregate win against Granada, after comfortably beating the Spanish side in the second leg at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Forward Edison Cavani opened the scoring for the Red Devils, while a late own goal glittered the scoreline for the home side. 

Half the job was done, when United secured 2-0 victory in the first leg in Spain and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men made sure there was no slip-up.

Although Granada had chances of their own in both halves, they lacked the final quality.

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With the victory, United have set up a semifinal clash against Italian giants Roma and they would look to conquer the trophy like they did back in 2017 under then-coach Jose Mourinho. 

“We are looking forward to it,” said Solskjaer, AFP reported. “We’re in the semis. It feels like a proper European tie because Roma is a club with lots of history. We’ve done well against Italian sides before.

“We’re going into it hoping to get to the final. If we can finish the season with a trophy that’d be great.”

For the opening goal, in the sixth minute, Paul Pogba flicked on an Alex Telles cross to Cavani, who steered a left-footed volley into the far corner.

Pogba narrowly escaped a red card scare, when he committed a foul after being booked in the game early on. However, the referee decided that the challenge did not warrant a second yellow.

Solskjaer substituted the France international at half-time to avoid a red card, bringing on Donny van de Beek in midfield.

Granada’s Jorge Molina went close with a header shortly after the restart and United also had chances to pull further ahead through Mason Greenwood and Cavani.

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The game became increasingly open in the final minutes, however, an own goal from Jesus Vallejo sealed a 2-0 second-leg victory for United.

Meanwhile, Arsenal beat Slavia Prague 5-1 on aggregate. Manager Mikel Arteta will next go head to head with his predecessor Unai Emery, now Villarreal boss, keeping alive the prospect of an all-Premier League final.