Manchester United has finally reached a major final under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
An inspired goalkeeping performance by David de Gea ensured United was only beaten 3-2 by Roma in a wild second leg of the Europa League semifinals, allowing the English team to complete an 8-5 victory on aggregate.
It ended a run of four losses in the semifinals of major tournaments in the last 18 months for Solskjaer, who is under pressure to win United’s first trophy since 2017.
Critical manager
Yet Solskjaer was critical of his team for giving Roma so many chances at the Stadio Olimpico to turn around a semifinal that looked over after United scored five second-half goals to win the first leg 6-2 last week.
Unai Emery, meanwhile, is heading back to the Europa League final on May 26 — at the expense of the club that fired him last season.
Villarreal held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw in the second leg of its semifinal, which was enough to secure a 2-1 aggregate win.
Emery will be looking for his fourth Europa League title after winning three straight with Sevilla and then taking Arsenal to the final two years ago.
The results (semifinals, second leg): Roma 3 (Dzeko 57, Cristante 60, Telles 83-og) bt Manchester United 2 (Cavani 39, 68) (United wins 8-5 on aggregate).
Arsenal 0 drew with Villarreal 0 (Villarreal wins 2-1 on aggregate).
