Cavani's double on three Roma goals and a draw with Arsenal: how Manchester United and Villarreal reached the Europa League final

Football performance in Rome

At the beginning of the week, the management of “Roma” announced parting with Paulo Fonseca: regardless of the results of the season in the summer, the Portuguese will give way to a much more eminent and successful compatriot Jose Mourinho.

A specialist will definitely not be able to slam the door loudly in Serie A, because it is mathematically unrealistic for the Romans to rise above the fifth place.

Therefore, a beautiful farewell bow could only be decorated with a bright performance in the international arena.

However, the departure to Manchester as part of the first semifinal match with Manchester United turned into a nightmare: in addition to the total advantage of the opponent, which led to the defeat of 2: 6, the guests lost due to injuries at once three backbone performers.

And in the return match, they had only ghostly chances not only to get into the decisive confrontation, but also to preserve their good name.

Nevertheless, the starting half hour at Olimpico, the Italians acted beyond praise. The hosts' motivation went off scale so much that after 20 minutes they had five hits in their assets - the same amount they inflicted in the entire previous match with Manchester United. Moreover, the owners' footballers who tested David de Gea for strength did not repeat themselves: Pedro, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Gianluca Mancini, Brian Cristante, Lorenzo Pellegrini beat from good positions, relying on performing skills. But the goalkeeper of the Mankunians caught courage and made such saves as if he returned to the stellar years 2016-2018.

To the credit of Manchester, there was no panic in the ranks of the team. The guests were aware of the strategic advantage they received last week, and therefore patiently restrained the opponent's pressure. Themselves, when owning, resorted to the simplest solutions to avoid mistakes. Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to rotate the squad (although the Mancunians will play three matches in five days next week), the teams of players in defense and in midfield were maximally played. This eliminated the risk of ball advances. And closer to the break, "Manchester United" became so emboldened that with his feet Fred began to issue even non-standard sharpening passes, one of which led to a goal.

The author of the accurate shot was Edinson Cavani, who in the current season, on average, every 100 minutes takes part in the scoring attack.

By the way, the Uruguayan also distinguished himself at Old Trafford, becoming the second footballer after Tommy Taylor in the European history of the club, who scored at the semi-final stage at home and at someone else's stadium.

The goal in the locker room obviously "nailed" the Romans.

Yes, and physically the final segment of the match was difficult for them to play: the oldest (on average 29 years and 247 days) squad of “Roma” entered the field during their performance in the LE and the UEFA Cup.

However, during the break, Fonseca managed to revive the team, which primarily had a positive effect on the leaders. After returning to the field, Pedro and Edin Dzeko ran with redoubled energy, who formed a bunch, constantly looking for free zones between the lines of the British, and deservedly earned a goal. Pellegrini's and Cristante's straightforward actions followed - the latter's long-range strike suddenly made Roma the leader.

A ray of hope for salvation, dawning before the Italians, threatened to completely blind Manchester United. But the guests were saved by de Gea, who pulled out of the range several difficult balls. After that, the old football truth "you do not score, you score" the Romans recalled Cavani. The most valuable player in the semifinals doubled the number of goals for United at this stage to eight - such a high performance in the performance of a single team has not been observed for 20 years. In addition, the Uruguayan was only the third - after Radamel Falcao and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - a player who scored four or more goals in the semi-finals of the LE.

Fonseca had only to admit defeat.

He did it, but with substitutions still left a separate match for Roma.

Nicolas Zalewski, 19, eight minutes after entering the field, marked his debut in the senior team with an accurate shot that brought the Romans victory.

True, the home fans still have a vestige of the overall outcome of the semifinals.

After all, if the team in Manchester had performed at least half as bright as at home, Fonseca could well have completed his work at Roma by winning the continental trophy.

Pragmatic zeros in London

After four eliminations in the semifinals, Villarreal have finally made their way into the decisive battle for the trophy.

This was preceded by 90 grueling minutes at the Emirates, where Unai Emery's squad diligently defended their home win (2-1) a week ago.

The coach, who most often won in the UEL, preferred not to be on the rampage, but took as a basis the proven pragmatic model “you need to open up”, giving the ball to the British.

The guests were looking for their happiness in counterattacks and waited for the individual mistakes of their opponents.

Moreover, the right flank of "Arsenal" and personally Hector Bellerin looked very indistinct.

The plan worked almost perfectly: before the break, the "Gunners" practically did not get close to someone else's goal. 

According to the system of expected goals, they gave only 0.19 goals per half, and for the first time they disturbed Jeronimo Ruli only in the 25th minute.

As it turned out later, this was the only shot of Londoners on target in the first half of the meeting.

At the same time, its author, Aubameyang, touched the ball less often than anyone else on the field, including goalkeepers.

In the second half of the meeting, Arsenal looked livelier, but not enough to score a goal that could give the fans another English European Cup final.

And without the help of Rulia, the situation near the gates of Villarreal would hardly have escalated.

The goalkeeper now and then provoked explosive situations in his own penalty area with an unsuccessful exit game or erroneous kicks into the field.

To the disappointment of the owners, none of their expensive forwards took advantage of half-chances.

The guests were closer to upset Bernd Leno.

However, somewhere the players of "Villarreal" let down technique, and in some moments - their own caution.

A number of fast attacks had to be completed with risky exacerbations, and then the chances of opening an account would tend to 100%.

But instead of adventurous decisions, the Spaniards reinsured themselves and gave passes back almost from outside someone else's penalty area.

After that, the central defenders Raul Albiol and Pau Torres again began to keep the ball in their own half.

But since this strategy brought Villarreal to the final, it should be considered successful.

As well as to pay tribute to Emery: five times the teams under his leadership made their way to the semi-finals of the LE and invariably passed on.

For the first time since the 2015/16 season, Arsenal will not play in any cup final, both domestically and internationally.