COLOGNE, Germany – The Europa League started as a side show for Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but is now taking center stage.
On Monday night in Cologne it took a nervous and nervous 1-0 against FC Copenhagen in Cologne – earned thanks to Bruno Fernandes’ penalty in extra time – but United are one game from the European final and have a chance first trophy since Jose Mourinho won this competition in 2017.
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They will have to improve on Sunday against Wolverhampton Wanderers or Sevilla FC if they are to return to the RheinEnergies Stadium for the final on 21 August.
“This is the third time this season, we have been in the semifinals in all the competitions we have participated in,” Solskjaer said later. “I’m very happy to go through. I thought we deserved to win tonight. Let’s hope we can take a couple of steps forward and win this.”
Champions League football has already been secured thanks to third place in the Premier League but, for Solskjaer, that doesn’t mean the stakes in Germany over the next 10 days are lower. The Norwegian has been at the club long enough to know that success is judged in silver.
When the Europa League started in September – almost 11 months ago – it wasn’t Solskjaer’s priority. Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Diogo Dalot, Axel Tuanzebe, Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong all started with a drab 1-0 win over Kazakhstan FC Astana minnows, but that was then and this is now.
The time for rest and rotation is over and it is enough to look at United’s top six against Copenhagen to understand Solskjaer’s attitude towards the final rounds of this tournament. Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial – the inspiration behind a six-game winning streak in United’s last eight league games to secure a spot in the top four – had all returned against a Copenhagen side playing in their first European peer. quarter finals.
In 10 previous attempts, the Danish team’s only win against English sides came against United in the 2006 Champions League group stage – a match Solskjaer played in – but here they never looked like a team ready to overturn . Breathless dudes Harry Maguire and Eric Bailly – in place of Victor Lindelof – kept the score at 0-0 and although Greenwood converted United’s only clear chance right at the start of the interval, it was ruled out. from VAR.
During the break it was difficult to tell the difference between the team playing the 26th European quarter-final and their debut team. It was a half after which Solskjaer could have secretly hoped that Ed Woodward would just rack up the £ 120 million Borussia Dortmund are asking for Jadon Sancho top transfer goal.
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Jan Aage Fjortoft reacts to Micahel Zorc’s comments on keeping Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund.
But with the deal for Sancho seemingly off the table for now – and for all the snort from Fernandes, Rashford and Martial – it was only Greenwood who seemed likely to score. After 55 minutes, the 18-year-old fired a left-footed shot from inside the post, but when Rashford took advantage of the rebound he was offside.
Ten minutes later, Fernandes slammed the other post, causing a flurry of shrill screams from Stale Solbakken on the Copenhagen bench. The sound echoed through FC Koln’s empty 50,000-seat house as United’s submarines rocked backward in their grandstand seats, hands on their heads.
Copenhagen, champions of Denmark in 2019, could still feel a shock and when substitute Bryan Oviedo, formerly of Everton and Sunderland, forced Aaron Wan-Bissaka to play a crucial game on the line, Solskjaer had seen enough. Nemanja Matic and Lindelof for Fred and Bailly – two defensive changes in a match that United had to win – a hint, perhaps, that he’s not completely satisfied with his offensive options from the bench.
Martial, Rashford and Greenwood have scored 62 goals between them this season, but there’s a reason Solskjaer hasn’t given up hope of signing Sancho, despite what Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said on Monday about the saga. transfer.
It was only at the start of extra time that Solskjaer decided to make an attacking change, finally bringing Juan Mata for Greenwood. The Spaniard is a marginal player these days but for 30 minutes he showed how good he still is. With his teammates increasingly tired, his passes and moves elevated Solskjaer’s team.
It was Mata who finally unlocked the Copenhagen defense, passing a pass to Martial. His shot was saved by Karl-Johan Johnsson – who impressed in all by making 13 saves – but the next day the Frenchman was packed by Andreas Bjelland. Referee Clement Turpin awarded United the 21st penalty of the season and Fernandes scored. He doesn’t make a mistake from the spot, or at least he hasn’t played for four and a half years in a top flight game.
It was enough to give United a third semi-final of the season, equaling a feat achieved by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2008-09.
Wolves and Sevilla meet in Duisburg on Tuesday to decide who will face United in their last four games, a match that Solskjaer will have to watch on TV due to stadium restrictions.
“They are two good teams,” Solskjaer said. “We know everything about Wolverhampton. I played a match against Sevilla with Molde, so I have something to recover against them too.”
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