Solskjær speaks!
Jamie Jackson has filed his match report, so I’ll leave you with that. Thanks for your company and emails - goodnight!
As good as United were in the second half, the penalty decision for their fourth goal was scandalous.
#OleOut is still trending on Twitter. This is Humanity ’21.
Here’s Paul Pogba, who had another outstanding game
“The result is positive but it’s not finished. We have to stay focussed and play the second leg with the same mentality. In the first half we made two mistakes and they cost us two goals. When we conceded the second one we were a bit all over the place. But we spoke at half-time and we were all motivated for the second half.
“[On the penalty given against him] I don’t know how to tackle! Why should I tackle?! I try to tackle and be the English guy, but I need to practice more. I need to practice tackling without arms! It was unlucky - I’ve been unlucky a lot this season with penalties so I need to start learning.”
A great stat from Jake Humphrey on BT Sport The last time to score six in one leg of a European semi-final were Real Madrid in 1964.
I shan’t tell you the score in the other semi-final between Villarreal and Arsenal, in case you plan to watch it on delay. But if you want to know who United or Roma might be playing in the final, click here.
It’s the QPR fans I feel for
Full time: Man Utd 6-2 Roma
Peep peep! Manchester United’s semi-final hoodoo should be over - should - after this crushing and slightly surreal victory. They were 2-1 down at the break but then overwhelmed an injury-hit Roma in the second half. Bruno Fernandes and Edinson Cavani scored two apiece before Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood gave United an unimaginable cushion ahead of the second leg.
90 min There will be two minutes of added weirdness.
89 min A United substitution: Bruno Fernandes, who had a hand in at least seven of the goals, is replaced by Juan Mata. Poor old Donny van de Beek.
Cavani, just inside the Roma half, waved a sumptuous pass across the field with the outside of the foot. Greenwood took it in his stride, moved into the area and hit a low shot that took a slight deflection off the sliding Ibanez and beat Mirante. He got a foot to the ball on the stretch but could only help it into the far corner.
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GOAL! Man Utd 6-2 Roma (Greenwood 86)
S-I-X!
85 min Fernandes shoots over from 20 yards. This game has been so ragged. I was going to say that European semi-finals are never this open until I remembered that Roma’s last European semi-final first leg, also in England, ended in a 5-2 defeat.
84 min “When Pogba’s good he’s very very good isn’t he?” says Colum Farrelly.
He’s majestic, especially from the left. I suspect he decided, sometime around Christmas, that United were finally a half-decent side so it was worth his while turning up. Since then he’s been terrific.
82 min A United change: Nemanja Matic replaces Fred.
81 min “I’m not in love with either penalty,” says Matthew Richman, “but I’m noticing how fast VAR checks have been tonight: even Cavani’s first seemed checked as quickly as it had been given, and that seemed tight to me. Is there a change in process being tested?”
The process is much quicker in European games. If this was a Premier League match, they’d still be checking what day it is.
80 min Fred shoots wide from 25 yards. Roma have been a mess in the second half, yet they will still fancy their chances if they can get one more tonight.
78 min “What is it with football and windows?” muses Ian Copestake. “You’ve got your transfer windows, your substitution windows, and there was even a plan for a league you can only look at from the inside or the outside!”
77 min Cavani’s scissor kick is saved by Mirante, though it wouldn’t have counted as he was offside, the end.
77 min As things stand, Roma need to win 3-0 next week. As if.
76 min Mason Greenwood comes on to replace Marcus Rashford.
A short corner on the right was played back to Fernandes just outside the area. He swept an excellent first-time cross towards the six-yard line, where the unmarked Pogba powered a header past Mirante.
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GOAL! Man Utd 5-2 Roma (Pogba 75)
What on earth.
74 min The sliding Ibanez makes a great block to deny Cavani, who was put clear by a glorious first-time pass by Fernandes.
72 min That penalty decision gets more ridiculous with every replay.
GOAL! Man Utd 4-2 Roma (Fernandes 71 pen)
Bruno Fernandes dances round the ball and then smashes it into the net. Mirante went the wrong way, to his left.
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VAR CHECK: Penalty given! I’m not having that.
Shaw played a stunning long pass to Rashford, who headed it into space and crossed low towards Cavani at the near post. He missed an attempted flick behind his front leg and was then taken out by Smalling in his follow through. But the ball had long gone, and that feels extremely harsh.
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69 min: PENALTY TO UNITED! I have no idea what that was given for.
68 min Shaw runs to the edge of the area, literally oozing confidence, and hits a sweet rising drive that is beaten away by Mirante.
66 min Roma almost make it 3-3. Mkhitaryan crossed from the left towards Dzeko, whose flicked header was superbly timed but too close to de Gea.
That was a mistake from the substitute goalkeeper Mirante. Fernandes stabbed an excellent pass to find Wan-Bissaka in space on the right side of the area. His low shot was pretty tame, but Mirante couldn’t hold it and Cavani, not without glee, helped himself to the rebound.
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GOAL! Man Utd 3-2 Roma (Cavani 64)
The big man gets another one!
61 min Smalling is booked for something or other.
60 min: Great chance for Roma! Karsdorp plays a devastating pass to put Pellegrini through on goal. He shapes to shoot but then tries to give the goal to Dzeko on the other side of the area. But Dzeko is on his heels and Maguire eases him away from the ball. Moments later, Smalling spanked a shot well wide.
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59 min Karsdorp’s dangerous cross is shanked not far wide of his own goal by McTominay. And then...
57 min Fred finds Pogba just inside the area on the left. He plays in the underlapping McTominay, whose meek cross-shot is poked away by Ibanez in the six-yard box. That was another vital bit of defending, without which Cavani would have had an open goal. The first chance, for McTominay, was a very good one as well, albeit on his left foot.
55 min Fernandes’s dangerous cross, flicked with the outside of the foot, is headed behind by Ibanez. That was a vital interception with Rashford right behind him.
@united_writing the “natural” hand position idea doesn’t make sense when a player moves his arms to balance - that is a totally natural part of the game - are players supposed to NOT balance themselves?
— Francis Mead (@francismead) April 29, 2021
53 min: Chance for United! Shaw bursts past Karsdorp on the left edge of the area and pulls the ball back to Cavani, who wallops over with his left foot. The ball was slightly behind him but that was still a pretty good chance.
51 min Now Pogba is booked for a foul on Mirante.
49 min Villar is booked for a poor tackle on Pogba, who is slapping the ground in pain.
Cavani was very close to being offside in the build up. I don’t know whether it was checked, but the goal stands.
That was another excellent goal. Pogba and Cavani combined to find Fernandes in space, 35 yards from goal. He moved forward and clipped the ball through to Cavani, who opened his body and sidefooted emphatically into the top corner. That was a majestic finish.
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GOAL! Man Utd 2-2 Roma (Cavani 48)
United are level!
47 min de Gea plays a wretched pass, straight at Dzeko on the edge of the area. Luckily the ball bounces off Dzeko to safety. Had he controlled that he would have had a simple chance to make it 3-1. In his defence, it was an awkward ball, and not one he would have been expecting.
46 min Apparently Roma can’t make any more changes, because they’ve already used their three substitution windows. If they get another injury, they’ll be down to 10 men, which is absurd.
46 min Peep peep! United begin the second half. No changes on either side at half-time, although Roma have already made three because of injury.
Half-time reading
This is such a charming story, get it read.
Half time: Man Utd 1-2 Roma
Peep peep! Manchester United are in trouble, again, in a semi-final. They took the lead through a delightful goal from Bruno Fernandes - but then it all went wrong, big-time. The superb Lorenzo Pellegrini equalised with a debatable penalty before setting up Edin Dzeko for Roma’s second. It’s been a poor game, in truth, and Roma will care not a jot.
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45+6 min A corner is headed over from six yards by McTominay, under a lot of pressure from a couple of Roma defenders.
45+5 min: Chance for United! Ibanez plays an awful pass straight to Cavani on the edge of the area. His first shot is saved by the outrushing Mirante, and the follow-up is crucially blocked by Smalling. Cavani will feel he should have scored.
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45+4 min Fred drills a good pass out to Rashford, but his cross is too close to Mirante.
45+3 min “Rob,” says Ben Walls, “will players twig there is a better success rate firing balls at opponents arms in the box rather than at the goal? BTW I don’t blame VAR, I blame a weak ref for giving that for Roma.”
Agreed. I’d like to see it again - it looked like he didn’t give it at first, and then panicked when Roma’s players started appealing.
45+2 min The obvious United change is Greenwood for one of McFred, with Pogba moving into midfield and Rashford to the left. I’m sure that will happen if the score stays the same.
45+1 min There will be five minutes of added time, a consequences of those three Roma injuries.
45 min The downside of having Pogba on the left - and he has played well - is that Rashford is less comfortable on the right. United need his electricity, because the rest of the team are fairly one-paced.
42 min This has been a really poor game so far. No intensity, not much quality, but apart from that...
40 min United are so good away from home that they won’t be panicking yet, but they will want at least a draw tonight. Pogba and Fernandes have swapped places, so Pogba is now the No10.
39 min This has been a really strange half: three goals, three injuries and almost nothing else of note. United haven’t got going. Nor have Roma, but they’re ahead.
38 min Roma have lost a third player to injury: the left wing-back Leandro Spinazzola has been replaced by Bruno Peres.
37 min Smalling does very well to head away Rashford’s dangerous cross.
Edin Dzeko has scored against Manchester United at Old Trafford for three different clubs from three different countries in three different competitions.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) April 29, 2021
United are in bother now. Mkhitaryan, in the inside-left channel, threaded a lovely pass through the legs of McTominay to find Pellegrini in space in the area. He appeared offside but was being played on by Shaw on the other side of the area. Pellegrini looked up and slid a lovely ball into the six-yard area to give Dzeko an open goal. He almost missed it, in fact - the ball hit his right heel, rebounded off his left shin and rolled into the net.
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GOAL! Man Utd 1-2 Roma (Dzeko 34)
Edin Dzeko gives Roma the lead!
32 min Pogba is fouled by Smalling, just outside the area on the left. Fernandes smashes the free-kick into the six-yard box and Cristante heads away at the near post.
29 min Spinazzola makes an excellent run infield and finds his fellow wing-back Karsdrop in space. His cross is booted away at the near post by Maguire, an important interception with Dzeko waiting behind him.
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28 min Pau Lopez is going off. He wanted to continue, until one of the physios told him about discretion and valour. I think he has dislocated his shoulder. Either way, he has been replaced by Antonio Mirante.
26 min “VAR should stay but needs to be refined,” says Niall O’Keeffe. “A ref should be allowed to use common sense to adjudicate video evidence. The Pogba handall was so clearly unintentional. These bad decisions happen too often.”
I wouldn’t call at least twice a game, every game, too often.
25 min Pogba’s dipping long-range curler is palmed away by Pau Lopez, diving to his left. The ball comes to Wan-Bissaka, whose stinging and possibly off-target follow-up is blocked. Lopez is down injured, in a lot of pain, though I’m not sure what happened. It’s a problem with his left shoulder.
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24 min Good play from Rashford, who charges infield from the right and finds Fernandes in a crowded penalty area. He can’t quite get the ball out of his feet and drives a tame shot past the far post.
23 min Fernandes lifts it over the bar.
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22 min Ibanez flattens Rashford 25 yards from goal, to the right of centre. In theory this suits a left-footer. But as that left-footer is Fred, I fully expect Fernandes or Rashford to take it.
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21 min Pogba marches through midfield and curls a long pass to Rashford, who can’t quite control it on the stretch. Apart from that ludicrous penalty, Pogba has been the best player on the pitch so far.
19 min Lindelof makes an important interception to stop Mkhitaryan’s through ball reaching Pellegrini.
18 min It’s been a strange start to the game. Almost nothing has happened, yet we’ve already had two goals and an injury.
Yet again, Bruno Fernandes for Manchester United! 💪
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 29, 2021
Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani combine to set up the Portuguese playmaker ✨
That's 25 for the season for Bruno!#UEL pic.twitter.com/Nc5rOrQ3sn
17 min “That beautiful United goal is why we watch football,” says Colum Farrelly. “That penalty decision is why we might not.”
GOAL! Man Utd 1-1 Roma (Pellegrini 15 pen)
The captain Lorenzo Pellegrini scores emphatically, slapping the penalty into the left corner. David de Gea went the right way but couldn’t get there.
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This is controversial. Karsdorp’s cross hit the raised arm of Pogba, who was sliding in to challenge near the byline. The referee didn’t give it, then gave it, then went to talk to the assistant referee, then gave it again. I don’t think that would have been a penalty England because it deflected off Pogba’s thigh, and he was only a couple of yards away from Karsdorp. I’ll be honest, I haven’t a clue any more.
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13 min: PENALTY TO ROMA!
11 min “Interesting article on Donny van de Beek,” says Matt Dony. “Was it written as an excuse to use that pun in the last line?”
That’s how I start every piece. I literally write them all backwards. It shows, doesn’t it.
The move started with a great run from Pogba, who beat three players in a tight area and laid the ball into Cavani in the D. He angled a perfect first-time pass into the path of Fernandes, who flipped the ball gently over Pau Lopez. That was a great goal.
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GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 Roma (Fernandes 9)
United take the lead with a superb team goal!
7 min Veretout’s injury is the only thing that has happened so far.
5 min For the second time, Veretout deliberately kicks the ball out of play, this time so that he can leave the field. That’s a pretty cruel blow so early in the semi-final, and je must be doubtful for the second leg as well. Gonzalo Villar comes on to replace him.
4 min Veretout is going to try to continue, though he’s not moving particularly well.
3 min An early blow for Roma: Jordan Veretout, their goalscoring midfielder, has done his hamstring.
1 min Peep peep! Roma, in their white change strip, kick off from right to left.
The players stroll into the Manchester night - United’s first, then a Roma team that includes Chris Smalling and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The two managers, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Paulo Fonseca, chat amiably as they walk down the touchline.
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In a surprising development, Donny van de Beek is on the bench
Rob Smyth tries to make sense of Donny van de Beek's lost seasonhttps://t.co/jtWO6KBcic
— United Writing (@united_writing) April 28, 2021
The winners of this tie will meet Villarreal or Arsenal in the final in Gdansk. Barry Glendenning is watching that game.
The pre-match thoughts of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
When you get to a semi-final, you’re playing against good opposition so you have to take your chances. We didn’t do that against Sevilla last season. But we’re a year older: more experienced, more confident, fitter, better squad. We’re ready for it.
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The last meeting between these teams was a Champions League quarter-final in 2007-08. United won 3-0 on aggregate, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored this monstrous header. “It was,” said his teammate Louis Saha, “the moment when I thought he was extraterrestrial.”
“I’m not sure I quite understand the near hysteria from some about the fact that United have lost a few semi-finals in a row,” says David Wall. “Sure, it’s preferable to win those games but it’s not as though a semi-final in any competition is expected to be a walk over (weren’t two of them against City?). And didn’t Klopp go four or five finals before he won the Champions League with Liverpool? It’s hardly at the stage of Gerulaitis vs Connors yet.”
Surely ‘near hysteria’ is society’s default setting. I know what you mean, but five semi-final defeats in two years would be highly unusual and a bit worrying. Who cares, it’s only football.
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“That Pedro goal in the 2011 final was really nice,” says Phil Podolsky. “Xavi’s outstanding outside-of-the boot assist preceded by Iniesta’s outside-of-the-boot pre-assist which looks like a routine pass but isn’t entirely!”
I can’t find a video that shows the Iniesta pass, but this has the rest of it.
(Edit: Phil has sent this, which shows the Iniesta pass in one of the replays.)
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“Oh, for heavens sake Rob,” says Alan Weir. “Don’t quote Bobby Bruce unless you are sure of your facts. Robert the Bruce uttered his legendary quote, not to the troops before Bannockburn but rather whilst hiding in a cave facing utter defeat, about to give up, when the spider’s efforts gave him the impetus to give the cause one more go. There will be no charge for the history lesson.”
I thought he said it twice. THAT’S WHAT IT SAYS ON THE INTERNET.
Team news
No surprises in either XI. David de Gea, demoted to Europa League goalkeeping duties, replaces Dean Henderson, and Marcus Rashford is preferred to the in-form Mason Greenwood on the right. Chris Smalling and Henrikh Mkhitaryan both start for Roma.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1) de Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Fred; Rashford, Fernandes, Pogba; Cavani.
Substitutes: Grant, Henderson, Bailly, Mata, Greenwood, Amad, James, Telles, Matic, Williams, van de Beek, Tuanzebe.
Roma (3-4-2-1) Pau Lopez; Smalling, Cristante, Ibanez; Karsdorp, Diawara, Veretout, Spinazzola; Pellegrini, Mkhitaryan; Dzeko.
Substitutes: Mirante, Fuzato, Villar, Santon, Mayoral, Kumbulla, Carles Perez, Bruno Peres, Ciervo, Darboe.
Referee Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain).
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Preamble
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again
Even Robert the Bruce didn’t advocate a fifth attempt. His legendary quote, supposedly delivered to his troops before they routed the English at Bannockburn in 1314, stopped at the fourth try. Tonight and next Thursday, Manchester United will go one better, or maybe that should be one worse. This tie against Roma is their fifth semi-final in the last 15 months; so far they have won none of them.
In isolation, all four of those defeats – two to Manchester City, one each to Chelsea and Sevilla – were explicable, but together they don’t look so pretty. This season’s Europa League is probably United’s best chance yet of winning a trophy, never mind a semi-final, under Solskjaer. They are the best team left in the competition and have been more consistent this year, with only three defeats in the last 35 games.
Roma’s domestic form has been abysmal, and they have dropped to seventh in Serie A after taking only five points from the last seven games. But they’ve been really good in Europe, putting out Shakhtar Donetsk and Ajax in the last two rounds. They are a capable team with a few familiar faces: Chris Smalling, who returned from injury at the weekend, and Henrikh Mkhitarayan are Old Trafford alumni; Pedro scored against United in the Champions League final 10 years ago, although he’s injured so I’m not sure why I mentioned him. And then there’s Edin Dzeko, still going strong at 35, a man United will never be able to forget: his injury-time goal against QPR in 2012 facilitated the Aguerroooooooooooooooo! trauma.
By the end of this tie, United should also be familiar with Jordan Veretout and Lorenzo Pellegrini, two excellent midfielders who will keep McFred’s heart rate in the cardio zone. It’s easy to forget, with our Union Jack goggles on, that this is an equally huge game for Roma. They haven’t reached a European final since 1991, when they lost to Internazionale in the Uefa Cup; they’ve also lost their last three semi-finals in all competitions, albeit over a much longer period than United.
The winners will never speak of a semi-final hoodoo again. The losers may never hear the end of it.
Kick off 8pm BST.
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