The United defence was distracted by Robert Lewandowski’s failed connection attempt. In between, Marcus Rashford demonstrated why Barcelona coach Xavi Hernu00e1ndez described him as one of Europe’s most dangerous forwards. Rashford beat goalkeeper Marc-Andru00e9 ter Stegen at his near post with a tight angle shot in the 53rd minute, then set up United’s winning goal seven minutes later.
After receiving the ball at the touchline from a short corner, Rashford dribbled into the penalty area and fired a low cross that was flicked on by Bruno Fernandes and bounced up into the net off defender Jules Koundu00e9 for an own goal.
If you face Spain’s number one on the road and you are the dominant team, you can look at that as a positive, United manager Erik ten Hag said. United goalkeeper David de Gea kept the lead with late saves after ter Stegen’s best saves came in the first half to keep Rashford and Wout Weghorst from scoring.
Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, now 81, watched a game with 35 shots on goal in the stadium where his team won the Champions League final in 1999. It sets up an enticing second leg next Thursday at Old Trafford, with a place in the round of 16 on the line.
Barcelona has never won the Europa League u2014 or even reached the final in 52 years as the UEFA Cup and then the Europa League u2014 and its 13th attempt appears to be no different.
THE EUROPA LEAGUE
Monaco captain Axel Disasi scored a long-range shot in stoppage time to seal a 3-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen in a game between two former Champions League finalists.
After taking a 13th-minute lead on Duan Vlahovi’s goal, Juventus was held 1-1 by Nantes, and appeared to be awarded a penalty for a handball in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Instead, after a two-minute review and consultation with the pitchside screen, Portuguese referee Joo Pinheiro awarded Nantes a free kick for a foul committed by Juventus’ Bremer.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s first competitive game of 2023 was a 2-1 win over Rennes in a home game played in neutral Warsaw during the Ukrainian league’s midwinter break. In Shakhtar’s first game since selling star winger Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea, Dmytro Kryskiv, his replacement on the left flank, scored in the 11th minute.
Sevilla, the record six-time champion, defeated PSV Eindhoven 3-0, and Salzburg will take a 1-0 lead to Roma next week thanks to Nicolas Capaldo’s 88th-minute header. The Red Devils were almost level when goalkeeper Philipp Ku00f6hn pushed Andrea Belotti’s header onto the crossbar.
Ajax and Union Berlin, the Bundesliga’s surprise title contender, drew 0-0 at home. Sporting Lisbon drew 1-1 with Midtjylland thanks to a stoppage-time goal from defender Sebastian Coates.
CONFERENCE LEAGUE OF EUROPE
The standout performance in the Europa Conference League knockout playoffs was Fiorentina’s 4-0 thrashing of home team Braga. Luka Jovi and substitute Arthur Cabral scored twice each, and Braga defender Vitor Tormena was sent off for a late tackle on Jovi.
Trabzonspor defeated Basel, Qaraba defeated Gent, Ludogorets defeated Anderlecht, and AEK Larnaca defeated Dnipro-1 of Ukraine in five of the eight games. Ciro Immobile scored for Lazio against Cluj in first-half stoppage time after Lazio defender Patric was sent off. In Norway, the score was 0-0 between Bod/Glimt and Lech Poznan.
Sheriff of Moldova lost 1-0 to visiting Partizan of Serbia in a game played in an empty stadium, which was ordered by national authorities due to concerns about an alleged Russian-backed plot to destabilize the government.
