Sports

MANCHESTER United got back on track with a 4-1 victory over Real Betis in their Europa League round of 16 clash at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Just days after a 7-0 humiliation at the hands of Liverpool, an unchanged Manchester United side responded fiercely in this first leg game to put one foot in the quarter-finals.

It was not all plain sailing for Erik ten Hag’s side though, with Ayoze Perez equalising in the first half after Marcus Rashford gave the hosts an early lead.

A strong second half put Manchester United in control though, as Antony guided home a trademark curler and Bruno Fernandes headed home to ensure a firm lead.

Manchester United came out of the blocks flying and, having already seen a Weghorst goal disallowed for offside, took the lead in the sixth minute.

Rashford capped off a fine counter-attack to smash into the top corner.

Claudio Bravo was called into action to deny Weghorst and Rashford, before Real Betis equalised against the run of play.

This was when Juanmi clipped a pass to Leicester City loanee Perez, who drilled into the far corner and give David de Gea no chance.

Two minutes before the break, the visitors almost took the lead.

De Gea sloppily gave the ball away to Juanmi, who fed a pass through to Perez.

But Manchester United got away with it as his pass across the face of goal was deflected onto the post by Lisandro Martinez.

Manchester United retook the lead seven minutes after the restart, Antony cutting inside onto his left foot and curling beyond the reach of Bravo from outside the penalty box.

The hosts’ advantage was doubled just six minutes later, Fernandes finding space at the near post to head Luke Shaw’s corner-kick home.

This was in spite of Bravo getting both hands to the ball.

Bravo kept the scoreline respectable with a number of crucial saves but could do nothing as Weghorst tucked home on the rebound after Scott McTominay’s effort was saved.(dpa/NAN)

KN

Tags: Bruno Fernandes Europa League Manchester United Real Betis