🇪🇺 Man Utd send Barça out; Union beat Ajax; Juve and Roma through | OneFootball

It was do or die again in Europe on Thursday as the Europa League continued with some crunch clashes.

Here is what went down.

Man Utd pull off Barça comeback

Scorers: Fred 47′, Antony 73′; Lewandowski 18′ (P)

It was a huge night at Old Trafford as Manchester United sent Barcelona out of Europe with a 2-1 win (4-3 on aggregate).

The hosts initially took to the game to the visitors, but captain Bruno Fernandes had a soft penalty called against him, which derailed their control of the game.

The Portuguese ace brought down Alejandro Balde in the box, and Robert Lewandowski’s subsequent penalty found the net despite David de Gea getting a hand to it.

At the break, things remained 1-0, with Manchester United puzzled and out of ideas while Barcelona were comfortable. Yet coming out into the second half, that changed within 90 seconds.

Fred’s low drive beat Marc Andre ter Stegen for 1-1, sending the crowd into an enormous roar. Momentum then carried over and it was Barcelona’s turn to be frustrated.

Then a resilient press from the hosts saw the ball drop to substitute Antony, and he turned things 2-1 to keep the Premier League club in the competition.

It could have been oh so different too, if Raphael Varane hadn’t cleared Lewandowski’s shot off the line in the dying seconds.

Union’s fairytale continues

Scorers: Knoche 20′ (P), Juranović 44′, Doekhi 50′; Kudus 47′

Union Berlin’s European fairytale continued with a 3-1 win over Dutch giants Ajax.

Despite the visitors’ 75% possession of the ball, luck favoured the hosts.

A miscue at the back allowed Robin Knoche to open the scoring from the penalty spot before Josip Juranović doubled things just before the break after capitalising on a goalkeeping error.

Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus cut the deficit in half within minutes of the second half, but immediately after, Danilho Doekhi’s header eased some pressure off the hosts and the Eredivisie side crashed out.

Roma beat Salzburg

Scorers: Belotti 33′, Dybala 40′

Jose Mourino’s side had some work to do as they hosted Salzburg down on aggregate, but a 2-0 win ensured they moved on.

It was a tense clash at the Stadio Olimpico with 30 combined shots across 90 minutes though two first has strikes from the hosts proved to be enough.

Andrea Bellotti broke the deadlock when he acrobatically redirected a ball home before Paulo Dybala finally found the back of the net after hitting the woodwork twice.

Elsewhere…

Rennes v Shakhtar Donetsk

Earlier results…

Di Maria inspiration saves Juve

Scorers: Di Maria 4′, 20′ (P), 78′

Red card: Pallois 17′

Juventus avoided European embarrassment with a 3-0 win over 10-man Nantes (4-1 on aggregate).

The pressure on the Italian giants was heavy heading into this clash all square, but the in-form Angel di Maria proved to be the difference.

Nicolò Fagioli set up the World Cup winner and his one-time hit from outside the box floated into the top left corner.

Things then went from bad to worse for the hosts, as defender Nicolas Pallois was shown red for a handball in the box, allowing Di Mara to make it 2-0 from the spot.

Nantes found their stride in the second half to try and take the game to Juventus, yet their pacey runs didn’t trouble the hosts with only two shots on target.

Some strong defending from the French club frustrated Juventus in the dying moments yet Di Maria eventually added a third after VAR awarded him a late goal.

It was the Argentina star’s first hat-trick for the club.

Bayer Leverkusen beat Monaco on pens

Scorers: Ben Yedder 19′ (P), Embolo 84′; Wirtz 13′, Palacios 21′, Adil 58′

Two thrilling games saw this fixture end 5-5 on aggregate, but Bayer Leverkusen held their nerve to knock Monaco out.

After an impressive performance tonight, the German side looked to be on their way through until Monaco substitute Breel Embolo’s header levelled things.

Nobody scored in extra time and the match went to penalties, where the visitors prevailed 5-3 thanks to substitute Moussa Diaby.

The French club’s winning run is stopped after five victories in a row across all competitions.

Lacklustre PSV fall to Sevilla

Scorer: De Jong 77′, Silva 90+5′

It was too little too late for a lacklustre PSV Eindhoven as they fell to Sevilla 3-2 on aggregate.

Luuk de Jong scored late on and had another in the net immediately after to try and inspire a comeback but saw it ruled out for offside.

If the goal stood and then Fabio Silva’s late goal found the net it could have been all so different.

Sporting late show sends FC Midtjylland out

Scorers: Coates 21′, Goncalves 50′, 77′, Gartenmann 85′ (OG)

A late surge from Sporting Lisbon erased any potential of elimination as they knocked out FC Midtjylland with a 4-0 win (5-1 on aggregate).

The Portuguese side’s top scorer Pedro Goncalves was the star of the show with a brace including a brilliant half-volley from the top of the box.