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14 hours ago
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Manchester United’s trophy hopes live to fight on against Lyon in the Europa League quarter-final after a swaggering display that battered Real Sociedad and must be the Ruben Amorim blueprint.
From the moment they fell behind early on, his side was electrified, as if finally locating the high-voltage socket under Amorim and gleefully plugging themselves in. United came at Sociedad relentlessly, a whir of energy and creativity that is the best advertisement yet for where their head coach might take them.
Bruno Fernandes crowned his and United’s night with a blistering hat-trick strike, running on to Alejandro Garnacho’s pass to blaze into the left corner to send United’s faithful ballistic.
By the close, United had two legs versus Lyon – on 10 and 17 April – to navigate and make the semi-finals: they should fancy their chances to go all the way.
A Stretford End tifo-scale banner featuring United’s pitchfork-wielding red devil and an explosion of fireworks heralded kick-off but what followed was the visitors pummelling their host in an opening nine minutes that closed with Imanol Alguacil’s men 1-0 ahead.
This was via their leader, Mikel Oyarzabal, winning and converting a penalty. It was too simple for Sociedad as Fernandes failed to stop Aritz Elustondo’s low cross from the right, Ayden Heaven’s leg did the same at the near post, and down went Oyarzabal due to Matthijs de Ligt’s clumsy challenge. The VAR sent Benoît Bastien to the monitor, the spot-kick was awarded and Oyarzabal beat André Onana with ease.
United struck back and would dominate the rest of the period. Fernandes initiated the scoring move, aiming a ball for Rasmus Højlund, the striker was impeded from addressing due to a Igor Zubeldia shove. Bastien awarded a second penalty and a Fernandes hop-and-skip prefaced a coolly taken equaliser that went to Alex Remiro’s right, the keeper diving the other way.
Suddenly, United were the buccaneering force. There was a muscular pace about the home side that exhilarated and had to please their head coach. Percussive passes were pinged about, players were pictures of motion and fluidity.
One sequence had Fernandes tapping to Joshua Zirkzee, who passed to a Patrick Dorgu stampeding down the left. The wingback dinked the ball over, it came to Garnacho, and his shot was blocked.
As piercing, a little after, was the balletic Zirkzee footwork that allowed him to find Højlund whose flick narrowly missed.
The latter was joined in the starting XI by Onana and Casemiro, a trio who, according to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, form a not-so fabulous three, the owner referencing them this week as part of a band of squad members who are “overpaid and not good enough”.
So far, all showed the billionaire up as Onana’s confident handling and Casemiro’s cute positional sense complemented Højlund’s smart runs at goal. Another from the latter ensued when Dorgu broke through the inside-left channel: the Dane, overlapping, screamed to be fed but Dorgu decided to shoot and the ball dribbled tamely into Remiro’s hands.
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Dorgu, earlier, hit a volley straight from a corner: it missed, too, rippling the roof of the net, but here was more of the type of inventive play that has been missing for an age from this team.
With the tie at 2-2 overall, the second half could be billed as 45 minutes to save United’s hopes of silverware. A raid ended with Zirkzee letting fly, Remiro palming the ball into Dorgu’s path and Elustondo, illegally, stopping the Dane’s run. A third penalty of the game was given and Fernandes netted his second, this time aiming to Remiro’s left, the keeper guessing – again – the wrong side.
Cue rapture from the home congregation who were witnessing the most complete performance under Amorim. Dorgu, too, was showing why the Portuguese signed him in the winter window, his next offering a scything burst down the left and pass over that would have been a toe-in for Højlund but for Remiro’s intervention.
United were bright and aggressive as Garnacho proved by sprinting to intercept a ball near goal, Remiro, whose loose pass it was, saving his blushes by clutching the cross.
Zirkzee and Dorgu were among United’s standouts and the two combined to have Jon Aramburu sent off. The first’s curving pass had the second cutting across the substitute who bundled him down and, as the last man, the busy Bastien had to issue the red card.
Sociedad were stunned and, now, came Fernandes’s box-office finish plus a late Diogo Dalot bonus.
