One Giant Leap Towards Breaking The Semi-Final Hoodoo

Manchester United took a giant leap towards the Europa League final early this morning with a 6-2 thrashing of AS Roma at Old Trafford. We are not there yet but we are close to breaking the hoodoo of losing in the semi-finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaEYbkThC64

Turnover By Roma

However, things could have taken a turn for the worse and we could be discussing a completely different result if we had faced a better, more experienced team. We got off to a great start. It was a great team move involving Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani finished deftly by Bruno Fernandes. We then gifted Roma a way back into the game. Scott McTominay and Fred both missed the ball in midfield and Roma hit us swiftly on the counter-attack. Rick Karsdorp’s crossed was handled by Paul Pogba and Lorenzo Pellegrini converted the penalty with aplomb. Roma then took the lead with another gift from us. Pellegrini was played onside by Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw. His cross was bundled home by Edin Dzeko, continuing a healthy record of scoring at Old Trafford. Roma’s second goal seemed to have deflated the team. Roma lost three players through injury but we looked shell-shocked.

Devastating Response From United

The second half is where a better quality team with experience would have punished us, in other words, possibly an Italian club in the 90s. Why I say that is because of the weak link in our central midfield and defence that didn’t look at all solid in the match with their part to play in the first two goals we conceded. However, we shook off the shock of losing our lead and moved up the gears in the second half. A wonderfully taken goal by Cavani restored parity and he was the sharpest tool in the shed to benefit from Antonio Mirante’s spill over to give us the lead. We were awarded a penalty but I felt it was a very generous award. Chris Smalling did make contact with Cavani in the box but it was after the ball had gone past both players. Anyways, Bruno Fernandes didn’t waste the chance to give us a 4-2 lead.

One Of The Best Performances

Bruno then got his second assist of the game by playing in a great cross to be headed in by Paul Pogba. Cavani got his second assist himself when he played in Mason Greenwood with the outside of his boot for our 6th goal. The margin is not as big as the 7-1 from 2007 but it was another big, big win over Roma in a European knock-out tie at Old Trafford. The response from going 1-2 down at half-time was sublime. We over-powered and out-ran Roma who couldn’t match our intensity. With the game sewn up, I thought we could have rested a few of our players and given some others a bit of a run-out. Anyways fantastic performance, one of our best performances this season.

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