Set goals and fatal penalty kicks De Gea: how Villarreal beat Manchester United in the Europa League final

Villarreal's dream of the first trophy

The leading European championships came to an end last week.

Thus, within the framework of the current one on the eve of the continental championship, the four teams had to determine the two owners of European cups - the Europa League and the Champions League.

The first in line was the second most important tournament.

In Gdansk, Poland, Villarreal and Manchester United fought for the victory.

The Spanish team set itself the task of winning the first title in history.

But his mentor Unai Emery had the opportunity to win the LE for the fourth time.

He won the first three victories at the head of Sevilla.

Plus, the success in Gdansk for the "submarine" was the last opportunity to break into the Champions League next season.

In turn, Manchester United won the LE four years ago under the leadership of Jose Mourinho, and now intended to do so with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at the head, who had not yet taken trophies with the Mancunians.

At the same time, a serious problem for the Norwegian on the eve of the final was the absence of two injured central defenders at once - Phil Jones and Harry Maguire.

In the main squad, they were expected to be replaced by Eric Beilly and Victor Lindelof.

The fans seem to have got used to the absence of Antoni Martial, as well as to the fact that Edinson Cavani painlessly takes his place at the base.

In turn, Emery could not count on Vicente Iborra and Samuel Chukweze.

But Juan Foyt and Etienne Capu returned to the ranks, who took their place on the right crab defense and in the support zone, respectively.

It is also curious that the duet with Gerard Moreno in the attack was not Paco Alcacer, but the experienced Carlos Bacca.

Failed first half "Manchester United"

In the first minutes of the final confrontation, the initiative was taken over by Manchester United. Villarreal preferred to give the ball to the opponent and sat in defense in the hope of quick counterattacks. True, at first there was a slight nervousness in the actions of Emery's charges. They out of the blue sent a shell out of the field or, instead of an accurate transmission, lit a "candle" over the field. And Voith in one of the episodes went into the selection so quickly that he stumbled, lost his balance and literally flew into Paul Pogba's knee with his face. The bloody Argentine, who seems to have broken his nose, received help for a long time, but he nevertheless returned to the field, changing his shirt.

Only after that did the players of the Spanish team calm down a bit. However, at the gate of Jeronimo Ruli, they did not allow to create anything, practically leaving no free zones in their half and acting as tightly as possible. I remember only Scott McTominay's inaccurate shot from outside the penalty area and Pogba's long-range shot right in the center.

“Villarreal” closer to the middle of the half, on the contrary, finally got used to “Energa Gdansk” and increasingly began to get out on the foreign half of the field. Emery's team, according to the situation, included high pressure and forced rivals under pressure to lose the ball and break the rules. Soon the first half-moments began to appear at the gates of David de Gea. Interestingly, many of them were created precisely after the set pieces were played. For example, Pau Torres, after serving Bacchi Rabona from the front head, shot a little higher. A shot by Jeremi Pino from outside the penalty area was blocked by McTominay.

Thus, Moreno's goal in the 29th minute was already fully based on the logic of the meeting. And most importantly, the team played to its strengths. As if on a whistle, the players in yellow uniforms put pressure on someone else's half, blocking all the addressees for transmissions. As a result, Cavani was forced to break the rules. Dani Parejo, from a fairly distant standard, performed an excellent cross to the goalkeeper's line, from where Moreno sent a projectile into the near corner. The attacker in this episode was not held back by Lindelof, who tried to hold him with his hands, but this did not help either. Gerard scored the seventh goal of the current LE season.

Having scored, Villarreal got the opportunity to completely retreat into defense and calmly wait for the opponent's mistakes.

Manchester United again took the ball under their control and increased the possession to almost 70%, but this did nothing for the Mankunians.

They only performed a huge number of lateral passes from the bottom, not understanding how to find their way into someone else's penalty area.

Cavani remained on a starvation ration.

Bruno Fernandes was also practically invisible, on whom too much depends in the game of Manchester United.

The opponents' defenders did their best to turn it off.

Lucky ricochet for the Mancunians

Perhaps Villarreal would have managed to bring the matter to victory, completely drying up the game in the second half, but Manchester United, like the opponent, was helped by a standard position.

On the 55th minute, the team was lucky with a corner kick.

After serving from the left flank, one of the Spanish team's players brought the ball from outside the penalty area directly to Marcus Rashford.

He struck outright on goal, and the ball after a couple of ricochets flew directly to Cavani on the goalkeeper's line.

By this time, the steering wheels had already fallen into the corner, and therefore the Uruguayan could only not miss the empty alignment.

Having scored, the Mankunians continued to press, and Emery was forced to make a substitution, completely rebuilding the game scheme.

Instead of Bucky, central midfielder Francis Coquelin appeared on the field.

At the same time, Pino rose to the attack to Moreno, and Manu Trigueros moved to the left flank.

In general, the teams already half an hour before the end of regular time were afraid to take risks and first of all thought about the defense of their own goal, realizing that any mistake could be fatal.

But MJ continued to operate more actively.

Affected by the best physical readiness, because the last match of the Premier League with Wolverhampton, the team played with the reserve squad, while Villarreal played the main match between Examples and Real Madrid.

It is not surprising that it was Solskjaer's wards who created real moments in order to snatch victory.

So, in the 70th minute, after Fernandes' lumbago from the right flank, Rashford miraculously missed the target from several meters.

And then Cavani's header from the goalkeeper's line was blocked by Torres.

In turn, Emery tried to refresh Villereal's game with substitutions.

First, he threw the striker Alcacer and midfielder Moi Gomez into the fight, and in the end he provided rest to both full-backs Foyt and Alfonso Pedraz, releasing Alberto Moreno and Mario Gaspar instead.

The coach achieved his goal.

At “Manchester United”, at last, dangerous attacks from the left flank ceased to pass, and its players endured until extra time.

At the same time, Solskjaer never made a single castling.

Incredible penalty shootout

In the additional half hour, the initiative, on the other hand, was already owned by Villarreal. However, there was no talk of dangerous moments at the gates of de Gea. I remember only two hits of Moreno and Alcacer from outside the penalty area. Both proved to be too imprecise to bring the club the first trophy in its history. Solskjaer, at that moment, finally decided to replace and added Fred to the support zone, removing the right midfielder Mason Greenwood. Thus, the Norwegian killed two birds with one stone: he deprived his opponent of freedom in the center of the field and endowed Pogba with it, who got the opportunity to more boldly connect to attacks.

The second extra time turned out to be much more eventful. So, in the 112th minute, the ball after Moreno hit from outside the penalty area obviously fell into Fred's hand, but Clement Turpin's assistants on VAR did not give him instructions to appoint a penalty kick, spending about two minutes watching the replay. McTominay lay on the field for a long time, getting punched in the face by an opponent, and a little later Luke Shaw also got it. The team's thoughts were already in the penalty shootout and did not even think about trying to snatch victory earlier. But Solskjaer got the opportunity to make all the substitutions and put Daniel James, Axel Tuanzebe, Alex Telles and Juan Mato on the field especially for the "lottery".

And having reached the penalty shootout, the teams did not want to leave for a long time.

As a result, it took them 22 blows to identify the strongest.

In the first series, no one missed, although Ruli and de Gea were close to making a save in a couple of moments.

So, the Spaniard reached for the ball after the Alcacer shot, and the Argentine - Bruno Fernandes.

In the second series, no one was going to make mistakes either.

Still, Villarreal's goalkeeper was closer to salvation.

For example, it was only by a miracle that Luke Shaw realized his attempt.

The goalkeeper already seemed to have hit the ball, but at the last moment he slipped into the net between his hands.

De Gea, on the other hand, often fell into the right corner of himself ahead of time, which was regularly used by his rivals.

As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided by the intramural duel of goalkeepers.

Ruli performed his attempt brilliantly and sent the ball straight into the nine, although the opponent guessed the direction of the blow.

De Gea shot into the same corner, but at a comfortable height, and Jeronimo calmly saved his team.

Villarreal snatched victory in a dramatic match and won the first trophy in the club's history.

In addition, the team received a ticket to the Champions League, and Celta, who took eighth place in Example, will now go to the Conference League from Spain.

And in this situation, how can one not believe in the magic of Emery, who won the Europa League for the fourth time in his career?

"Manchester United" failed to break the spell of the former coach of "Spartak" and was left without the European Cup.