The manager of Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has credited the club’s attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes and the club’s winger Marcus Rashford for the club’s victory over Granada on Thursday, April 8.
Manchester United visited Granada for the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final stage and the Premier League club came out victorious after a tense end-to-end battle.
The Europa League quarter-final match was so tense that five Manchester United players received a yellow card each. It ended in a very mixed way for Manchester United that three of their star players – Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay, and Harry Maguire would miss the return leg for receiving two yellow cards in two successive Europa League games.
Besides the bad side of the game, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his boys took full advantage of the limited goalscoring opportunities they had to take the lead and win the game. Marcus Rashford was the first to score in the 2-0 victory in the 31st minute of the game.
After that, Granada continued to fight back but were unable to get back into the game until towards the last minutes when Granada midfielder Brice committed a foul on Bruno Fernandes in the eighteen-yard box. The Portuguese football star stepped up and scored from the spot-kick to make it 0-2.
Though coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is licking his wounds after three of his most reliable players were suspended for the return leg on Thursday, Manchester United left Spain with a resounding advantage.
With the 2-0 scoreline, all Manchester United need to do at Old Trafford on Thursday, April 15, is to either beat their visitors or draw with them to scale through to the semi-final round of the European club competition.
As for Granada, the goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford have made their task to scale through to the next round of the competition an almost impossible task. With the 2-0 home defeat, they will need to beat Manchester United 3-0 or 3-1 at Old Trafford to stand a chance of making it to the semi-final stage of the competition.
After the first leg of the tie, coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford as exceptional players.
“[They] have been exceptional, so important for us. It was a very good run by Rashford, takes the ball fantastically. Bruno is so confident on penalties even though the keeper almost saved it”, he told BT Sport after the 2-0 victory over Granada.
“Bruno drives the team, he drives himself. He’s got such hunger and enthusiasm to win and do well.
“I’ve played in teams with a lot stronger personalities than that, to be honest. That’s the way for us to improve, to take to the next level, is to demand more and more and more.
“Marcus scored a fantastic goal from a great pass by Victor, great run, and great skill to bring the ball down like this. We’ve seen it a few times before, like this, it’s a top-top quality goal.
“It was not a perfect night. We got three yellow cards and three suspensions. 2-0 is a very good result. We know how difficult it is to come to Spain. We’ve got to play well to get a result.
“It was an important goal, the second. A 1-0 lead, losing three players, is not a good position to be in. I don’t think we deserved five yellow cards, but that’s happened. We’re delighted with the result, of course.”
All smiles in Spain 😀
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 8, 2021
It's advantage United in the #UEL quarter-finals 👊
🔴 #MUFC pic.twitter.com/fJRF9CuRnV
