MANCHESTER: Manchester United’s season of promise was handed a reality check of the hard work that still lies ahead for Erik ten Hag as an under-strength side were blown away by Sevilla to crash out of the Europa League.

In his first season in charge, Ten Hag has ended a six-year trophy drought by winning the League Cup, has United in pole position for a return to the Champions League next season by sitting third in the Premier League and into a FA Cup semi-final against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.

Yet, a 3-0 defeat in the cauldron of the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Thursday was also far from United’s biggest or most humiliating under the Dutchman.

United have been smashed 4-0 by Brentford, 6-3 at Manchester City and 7-0 by Liverpool — matching the club’s worst ever defeat - in a rollercoaster campaign.

Everyone can see the demands and standard has to be higher in a club like Manchester United,” said Ten Hag. It’s unacceptable. We lost the battles, they had more passion, more desire, more willingness, that’s difficult to win games.”

A season of highs and lows for the fanbase is accentuated by the uncertainty surrounding the future of the club’s ownership.

Supporters have long since wished for the departure of the Glazer family.

But delight at the Americans announcement they were exploring a sale in November has turned to fear they could yet stay on by selling just a minority stake.

The delay in a solution to the sale process, with a third round of bidding to take place by the end of the month, risks leaving United behind when it comes to securing transfer targets this summer.

On the evidence in Seville, that is something the Red Devils can ill afford if Ten Hag’s early impact is to not fizzle out into another false dawn in the club’s decline since Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013.

Despite hundreds of millions spent in recent years, United’s lack of depth without a few key players was exposed in Spain.

Goalkeeper David de Gea had a disastrous night as lacklustre United were dispatched by the six-time competition winners.

After eight minutes De Gea rolled a pass to an isolated Harry MaGuire, scorer of one of the first-leg own goals. This time, ambushed by three opponents, he gave the ball away and Youssef En-Nesyri accepted the present.

Sevilla dominated and could have scored again before centre back Loic Bade headed onto his own shoulder and looped the ball over De Gea in the 47th minute.

In the 81st minute, De Gea charged out but sliced a dropping ball. It fell to En-Nesyri who curled into the empty net to complete the victory.

JUVE HOLD OFF SPORTING

Elsewhere, Juventus completed a good evening for the club by hanging on to draw 1-1away to Sporting in Lisbon to advance 2-1 on aggregate.

Juve received potentially good news earlier in the evening when Italy’s highest sporting court revoked a 15-point Serie A points deduction for illicit transfer activity but asked that the case should be re-examined.

In Lisbon, Juventus started fast as Adrian Rabiot spun and scored after Sporting failed to clear a ninth-minute corner.

The French midfielder then fouled Manuel Ugarte in the penalty area and Marcus Edwards converted the 20th-minute penalty.

The home team struggled against the Juventus defence and Ricardo Esgaio and Sebastian Coates missed Sporting’s best chances in the closing minutes.

Juventus will next face Sevilla and coach Massimiliano Allegri said he had thought the writing was on the wall for United.

I expected Sevilla to be honest. They are a tricky team,” the Juventus coach said. “They have won so many Europa Leagues so they definitely have an advantage. The signs from the last game were in their favour, I had that feeling.”

In Brussels, Union Saint-Gilloise could not claim a second German scalp as Bayer Leverkusen won 4-1 to eliminate the Belgians 5-2.

In the first leg in Leverkusen, Union Saint-Gilloise had managed a draw as they had in the round of 16 on their way to eliminating Union Berlin.

On Thursday, their hopes of a repeat began to fade after 90 seconds, as Moussa Diaby pounced on some poor defending and rounded goalkeeper Anthony Moris.

Mitchel Bakker volleyed a second after 38 minutes and Morris then played the ball straight to Jeremie Frimpong who fired it straight back past the Luxembourg international after 60 minutes.

Casper Terho replied for Union but Adam Hlozek restored the three-goal advantage.

Being in the semi-finals is great, but once you get there you want more,” said Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso whose team will face AS Roma for a place in the final.

ROMA SCORE TWICE IN EXTRA TIME

Stephan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Pellegrini scored in extra time to earn hosts Roma a spot in the semi-finals after defeating Dutch side Feyenoord 4-1 to advance 4-2.

After a cagey first hour in Rome, Leonardo Spinazzola levelled the tie for the home team with a deflected shot.

Paixao flicked Feyenoord level on the night and ahead on aggregate. But in the final seconds of regular time, Paulo Dybala scored for Roma to send the tie to extra time.

El Shaarawy struck from close range to put Roma ahead 11 minutes into extra time and Pellegrini scored from a rebound three minutes into the second period.

Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho was full of praise for his team after reaching his second European semi-final in a row with Roma, following last season’s Conference League title.

Maybe someone thinks differently, but in my view, the team played very well in a difficult match to deal with,” he told Sky Sport Italia. I’m sure the fans would have gone home happy for the team regardless of the result. We have limits, but this team is a family.”

In the Europa Conference League, Fiorentina blew a three-goal first-leg advantage over Lech Poznan before scoring twice in the last 12 minutes to lose 3-2 at home but advance 6-4 on aggregate.

Gent took the lead against West Ham at the London Stadium when Hugo Cuypers put them ahead on aggregate after 20 minutes.

But Michail Antonio scored twice, Lucas Paqueta converted a penalty and Declan Rice also scored in a comfortable 4-1 win for West Ham to advance 5-2 on aggregate.

France’s last representative in Europe, Nice went out 3-2 on aggregate after losing 2-1 in extra time at home to Basel. Kasim Adams headed the deciding goal in the 98th minute.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2023