Full-time: United 1-1 Celta (agg: 2-1)
The home players and fans rejoice at setting up a Europa League final showdown with Ajax! It’s the most ardently celebrated 1-1 home draw of a campaign that has seen many! Celta will return home full of regrets after missing a slew of chances. United will have regrets too, especially Bailly, who got himself sent off. But ultimately United got the job done. In dreary, workman-like fashion, it’s true, but they are one match away from a trophy they’ve never won and a place in next season’s Champions League.
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90+6 min: Celta tear into the United box, down the right-hand side. The ball is lashed across the edge of the six-yard box. Guidetti is free! All he has to do is sweep it into the net! But he gets his legs in a tangle and misses his kick! It’s another awful miss! And on that apt note, the ref blows for full-time! United have crawled into the final!
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90+ 5 min: Ajax have won 5-4 on aggregate and will face one of these teams in the final. Celta have 60 seconds to make it them ...
90+3 min: Herrera fires into the net, but only after the whistle had gone for a foul by Pogba on Mallo. Good decision. “I’m a United fan since 1968,” says Steve Port. “I hate the way they’ve played. It’ll serve them right if they go out.” This has been a small-club performance and no mistake.
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90+2 min: Cabral climbs over Fellaini in his eagerness to win a header. It’s an impressive but illegal feat and it gives United a freekick at the corner of the Celta box. Naturally, they take it short and trot over to the corner flag in an attempt to run the clock down. Rooney, who has just been introduced, shows his experience. That’s just the sort of move to endear him to Mourinho.
90 min: United fans boo at the announcement that there will be at least six more minutes. The home side have become a shambles in all respects.
88 min: United have had a safety-first policy from the opening minute and still managed to end up clinging on for dear life! An away goal would put Celta through!
RED CARDS FOR BAILLY AND RONCAGLIA!
There was a lot of pushing and shoving in the centre circle but Bailly escalated it by thrusting his hand into the face of Guidetti, who tumbled to the ground as if poleaxed. Then Roncaglia dumbly did something similar. They’re both sent off and neither will play in the final, whoever wins!
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GOAL! United 1-1 Celta (agg 2-1) (Roncaglia 85)
Game on! Celta take a short corner and then clip in a nice cross. Bailly slightly misjudges the flight, allowing Roncaglia to flick a fine header into the far corner!
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84 min: Bailly flings himself in front of an 18-yard shot by Aspas, making a tremendous block. “This Celta Vigo performance is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever seen,” says Matt Dony. “They’re so good and easy on the eye, until someone notices that they’re around the 18 yard box, and it all goes horribly wrong.”
83 min: Lingard is annoyed with a challenge by Cabral so clambers to his feet and squares up to the defender. Then the size difference dawns on him and he beats a hasty retreat. That kind of sums up United’s approach to this game. You can’t say it’s not sensible. Nor can you say it’s entertaining.
82 min: Lyon are now 3-1 up! They need one more goal to force extra-time!
80 min: Rashford overhits a corner. United stream back. Herrera earns a yellow card for crunching into Beauvue after being fooled by the sub’s slick first touch.
Celta substitution: Beauvue on, Sisto off.
United substitution: Carrick on, Mkhitaryan off. Well, I did say Mkhitaryan was United’s most dangerous play and brimming with joy. Reckless stuff when there are shops to be shut.
76 min: Mallo delivers another nice cross from the right, this time after cutting on to his left foot. Guidetti darts between Blind and Bailly and has a free header from six yards. But he powers his header wide!
75 min: Jonny receives a cross in the United box and tries to pivot and get off a shot. But he’s crowded out by five of the eight United players in the area.
73 min: Jonny clips a cross from the left into the United area. Blind and Romero get their wires crossed and Blind ends up heading the ball out for a needless corner. But Celta, profligate as ever, fail to muster a proper delivery from the corner.
71 min: Jozabed has a bang from 25 yards. He strikes it hard but just wide of the target. And Romero had it covered anyway.
70 min: Mkhitaryan pings a pass towards Pogba, who goes down under a challenge as he tries to take it in his stride at the edge of the box. The ball carries on to Fellaini, who tries to stab it towards goal with his left foot from a difficult angle. Alvarez saves at his near post. If only he’d done that in the first half ...
Celta substitution: Bongonda on, Radojoa off. “You can only beat the team in front of you, Mr. Copestake [58 mins],” retorts Matt Richman. “Perhaps you can look to Spurs as a reminder that quality in this tournament might be underestimated.” You mean Spurs were rubbish?
65 min: Aspas booked for complaining about not being awarded a freekick when he collided with Darmian. United fans revel loudly in the ex-Liverpool player’s woe.
62 min: Mkhitaryan and Rashford have been the only United men to play with real joy so far. Fittingly, they combine just now to unhinge Celta’s defence. Mkhitaryan fought for the ball and then showed quick feet and wit to slip it thourgh to Rashford, who dropped his shoulder in a slinky manner before gliding past a defender and bearing down on goal. But Alvarez charge off his line and spread himself well, blocking the shot.
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60 min: Mkhitaryan intercepts a pass just inside his own half and then streaks forward, slicing through Celta. He then looks for support but only Rashford is within view and Mkhitaryan can’t find him. The attack dies.
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58 min: Mallo makes good ground down the right and then delivers a useful cross. Sisto collects it beyond the far post and chooses not to shoot. Instead he feeds Guidetti, who has a clear shot from 12 yards, in front of goal. As United scramble to close him down, Guidetti booms the shot over the bar! Dreadful finish, in fairness. “Man Utd have met absolutely no opposition of any quality on the way to the final,” fumes Ian Copestake. “No Dortmund. No Seville, etc. Easy street for Jose.”
56 min: Pogba sends a diagonal pass from the left to right. Mkhiatryan wins it near the corner and dinks it back to Lingard, who spoons out a good cross. But no United player had foreseen that development, so no one was there to take advantage.
54 min: Cabral ambushes Rashford on half-way, then scampers forward to begin another Celta attack. Make that ‘another incomplete attack’. They’re continually missing the final ball to make good on their noble intentions. United have few noble intentions, other than to win the match. You can keep your trendy t-shirts and dungarees, Mourinho’s all about a good sensible overcoat.
51 min: Celta build up tidily again. But, as ever, all their fine play founders when they reach the United box.
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48 min: Rashford draws a foul with a slick turn. Blind the freekick from the left, deep in Celta territory. Fellaini tries to flick it towards goal from the penalty spot but he doesn’t catch it right and the ball squirts out to the edge of the area. Mkhitaryan runs on to it and smashes a ferocious shot towards goal. Alvarez reacts fast and shows strong wrists to push it over the bar!
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47 min: A sprightly start to the half by Celta! They zippily work the ball behind the United defence, whereupon Mallo wallops it into the six-yard box from the byline. Romero does well to cut it out!
46 min: Celta have made a switch. They’ve taken off Wass and introduced the Fulham loanee Jozabed. Let’s see if that gives them the cutting edge they’ve lacked so far. Speaking from the neutral spectators’ viewpoint, let’s blooming well hope so. Otherwise United are just going to squeeze the life out of this game.
In other news, Lyon may just be mounting a comeback! They’re leading 2-1 now, which means they’re only 5-3 behind on aggregate. Are Ajax’s youngsters on the verge of cracking?
Half-time: United 1-0 Celta (Agg: 2-0)
United began nervously and have sputtered at times but they have been efficient in the moment that counts, albeit thanks partially to bad goalkeeping. Celta have lacked sharpness up front. “Alright,” says Michael Meagher. “But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what has Fellaini ever done for us?”
45 min: Guidetti gets his head to the corner but not with any kind of power. Another straightforward save for Romero.
44 min: Mallo tries to get behind Darmian down the left but the Italian stretches out a leg and sticks the ball out for a corner.
42 min: Celta pop the ball around brightly, penning United back. Although, in fairness, United don’t need much encouragement to retreat. Eventually Sisto dances to the byline and blasts the ball across the face of goal. Wass does well to get a diving header nine yards from goal. But the ball flashes past the post!
40 min: Romero makes a comfortable save from a curled shot from the corner of the United box.
38 min: Pogba shunts Hernandez to the ground in midfield. Aspas runs over to ask the referee to book the Frenchman. BT’s commentators fly into moral outrage. Why is asking for a player to be booked considered worse than, say, appealing for a corner or penalty? Or, for the matter, than shunting a player to the ground?
35 min: Ajax have scored in Lyon, giving them a 5-1 aggregate lead. United-Ajax promises to be a high-pedigree final and a real contrast of styles.
34 min: It’s scrappy. And that suits United, who are stronger and more athletic.
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31 min: Blind loses control of the ball and then tries to retrieve it by lunging studs-up into Hernandez. He leaves Hernandez with a sore shin and the referee with no choice but to book him.
30 min: Mkhitaryan is going through his full repertoire of tricks. Any minute now he’s going to whip a bouquet of flowers from his sleeve.
28 min: Freekick in a dangerous position for Celta, about 30 yards out and a little to the left. Wass attempts the old ‘knucke-ball’ trick. But he’s no Juninho Pernambucano. Who? Only the greatest freekicker of all time.
27 min: Romero tips Hernandez’s curling 20-yard shot over the bar. It was an easy enough save but couldn’t be taken for granted, not in a tie in which both United’s goal have been aided by feeble goalkeeping.
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25 min: Freekick to Celta mid-wayu inside the United half. Wass swings it in from the right. Romero punches it when he could have caught it but that’s OK, because he gets the ball well away.
23 min: Rashford is really blossoming. There’s a vibrancy, speed and deftness to his play and Celta are struggling to contain him. He almost created another goal just now, bursting into a crossing position down the right and then firing in an inviting pass. No United player took up the invitation.
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21 min: Wonderful play by Mkhitaryan! He slalomed between two players mid-way inside the Celta half and sped towards the box. Then he flipped the ball sideways to herrera, whose shot was deflected over the bar. United are in the groove now!
19 min: It should be noted that in the dullness that immediately preceded that goal, I was choosing which to publish of the dozen or so emails from readers complaining about the inclusion of Fellaini today ....
GOAL! United 1-0 Celta (Agg: 2-0) (Fellaini 17)
After a couple of minutes of sterile possession, which seemed to lull Celta into carelessness, United open the scoring! Rashford created it by dashing in front left and dropping a splendid diagonal pass on to the head of Fellaini, who somehow managed to creep behind Jonny unnoticed, and nodded past the keeper at the near post from six yards!
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14 min: United enjoy a spell of possession. Well, ‘enjoy’ might be putting it too strongly. But they kept the ball away from Celta, albeit by knocking it about sideways and backwards very slowly. It’s not exactly champagne football, more like flat lemonade. But it’s taking the sting out of Celta for the moment.
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12 min: Brilliant by Pogba! He pounces on a loose ball in the centre circle and then performs a series of keepie-uppies - with his foot, thigh and head - to elude two opponents and threat a pass through to Rashford. The striker slams a reasonable shot wide from outside the area.
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10 min: Celta are hogging possession. United have fallen to easily into defensive mode, inviting the uppity visitors forward. What do you mean you’re not surprised?
8 min: The home crowd belt out chants of “United, United!” in an effort to wake their team up. Nothing doing so far, as Celta are first to everything.
6 min: Celta have been true to their word: there’s nothing deferential about them today, they’re sharper than United all over the pitch at the moment and the hosts are looking nervous.
4 min: Darmian is caught out again by the run of Aspas, who dashed down the right to receive a pass, cut inside Blind and lash a shot at goal from 16 yards. Romero tips it over! It’s an audacious start by the visitors and a decidedly stodgy one by United.
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2 min: Blind looks jittery at the back and gifts possession to Aspas, who races past the flat-footed Darmian and into the box. He stops the ball from running out of play at the byline and then surveys his options. As United look unsteady, he pulls it back to Sisto, who tries to make space for a shot from the edge of the area. but United regroup sufficiently to prevent him doing so. Sisto, therefore, nudges the ball wide to Hernandez on the left. The cross is gathered easily by Romero.
1 min: Within seconds of kickoff United aim a long ball for the head of Fellaini on the flank. The old Egil Olsen tactic there. It’s put out for a throw-in to United. Nothing comes from it.
Valencia captains United again. I don’t know whether he won or lost the toss but United will kick off any moment now...
Mourinho stands in the tunnel and gives several of his players a motivational slap as they make their way on the pitch. United are in Chevrolet’s famous red shirts along with white shorts and socks. Celta are in are in deep ocean blue tops with grey shorts and socks.
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The atmosphere at Old Trafford seems to be coming nicely to the boil, aided by the jubilating of some 3,000 Celta fans.
“That United bench will very possibly be the United ‘transfers out’ list come the end of this summer, providing Mourinho can get in enough Homegrown/English players,” reckons Eddie Munro. “Also, Mourinho, perennial semi-finalist with a great Real Madrid squad. Since then Ancelotti and Zidane have both got a similar squad to win the Champions League. Will Mourinho’s fear of losing affect his semi final tactics again tonight? (Purely rhetorical, of course it bloody will)?”
Teams:
Both managers have decided to field exactly the same sides that started the first leg. But Celta’s players have vowed to be less deferential towards United than they were back then. That, at any rate, is what Iago Aspas told Sid Lowe.
United: Romero; Valencia, Bailly, Blind, Darmian; Fellaini, Herrera, Pogba; Lingard, Mkhitaryan, Rashford
Subs: De Gea, Jones, Smalling, Carrick, Mata, Rooney, Martial
Celta Vigo: Alvarez; Mallo, Cabral, Roncaglia, Jonny; Wass, Radoja, Hernandez; Aspas, Guidetti, Sisto
Subs: Villar, Fontas, Diaz, Bongonda, Beauvue, Jozabed, Gomez
Referee: O Hategan (Romania)
Preamble
Hello, and welcome to the biggest football match in history. That’s how Jose Mourinho and his Celta Vigo counterpart, Eduardo Berizzo, see it, and who are we to argue? You can get where those guys are coming from, because one of these teams is going to wind up in the final of Europe’s secondary club competition for the first time ever. So the stakes couldn’t be higher for these teams, by which, of course, we mean that they couldn’t be higher this season.
United have much more to lose: their 1-0 lead from the first leg, for a start, but also their sheen, dignity and sense that they have made progress this season. Claim the Europa League to go with the League Cup triumph, and Mourinho will have offered United fans happy memories and a place in next season’s Champions League - that’s a decent return from his debut season even if it came at the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. Flunk out of the tournament today, however, and Mourinho can expect to be splattered with bile and grievances.
It’s good though, isn’t it, that English nobility is taking the Uefa Cup/Europa League seriously again? Last season it was Liverpool, now it’s Manchester United showing that they’re not too haughty to try winning this trophy, while the likes of Southampton and West Ham use it to make berks of themselves. It all takes us back to the very first days of the competition, when it was a source of either glory or humiliation for British clubs. Why, back in the inaugural edition in 1971/72, Wolves beat Juventus en route to the final, where they got they lost to Tottenham Hotspur, who had ousted AC Milan. Aberdeen, incidentally, had spanked Celta Vigo in that edition before coming a cropper against Juve. But - and this is perhaps the bit most relevant for Manchester United today - that was also the edition in which Leeds won 2-0 away to the Belgian outfit Lierse and then eased off in the second leg and fell to an outlandish 4-0 home defeat. Even the Belgian teams manager hadn’t believed that to be possible: “Even with so many of their players out injured I do not think we can expect to beat them,” said the Lierse manager, Frank de Munck, before the second leg at Elland Road. “We will do our very best but I think we will have to be satisfied if we can avoid a very heavy defeat.”
If that could happen, then a surprise is certainly possible at Old Trafford today. Because this Celta Vigo team are much better than that Lierse shower, and the Leeds of yore were much better than Mourinho’s United. Don Revie’s team, after all, went on to win the FA Cup that year and finished second in the league, just a point off the top. This United side are in the same league position that Southampton finished last season and have scored fewer Premier League goals than Bournemouth.
On the basis of last week’s first leg, United will create a host of chances today and should canter to victory. On the basis of much of what has happened so far this season, they’ll bungle most of those chances and end up hanging out for a 1-1 draw. That, of course, would be good enough to reach the final against either Lyon or, more likely, Ajax.
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