COLOGNE: Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty in extra time as Manchester United scraped past FC Copenhagen 1-0 on Monday in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, reshaped into an eight-team straight knockout tournament in Germany due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Portugal international notched his competition-best seventh goal of the season as United set up a semi-final clash against Sevilla or Wolverhampton Wanderers, joining Inter Milan in the last four following the Italian side’s 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Dusseldorf.

“Third time this season we’ve been to the semis, every competition we’ve been in. Delighted we’ve gone through, we deserved to win tonight,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told BT Sport.

“Their keeper was fantastic, unbelievable. We hit the post a few times, there were a couple of VAR decisions against us. It could have been one of those nights that you end up with penalty shoot outs. They made it hard for us.”

For Solskjaer, the game was a reunion with his old Norway team-mate and friend Stale Solbakken, the coach of Copenhagen.

“We should maybe be a little more cynical. We didn’t go down when we had chances to go down ... inside the box,” Solbakken said.

All games from the quarter-finals onwards in this season’s Europa League are being played behind closed doors as one-off ties across four venues — Cologne, Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Gelsenkirchen — in a unique format following a five-month interruption.

Copenhagen dominated the opening half and missed several chances, with United’s defence looking all at sea in the opening 20 minutes as they made several desperate clearances to deny Mohamed Daramy and Jonas Wind.

United thought they had taken the lead on the stroke of halftime but Mason Greenwood’s precise shot into the far corner was correctly ruled out for offside after a VAR check.

Being on the back foot in the opening half spurred United into action though and they created a flurry of chances after the break, although Wind also came close at the other end.

Fernandes and Greenwood hit the woodwork and Marcus Rashford had an effort ruled out for offside while Copenhagen’s Karl-Johan Johnsson produced a string of superb saves to force extra time.

Fernandes settled the contest when he drilled his spot-kick past Johnsson after Anthony Martial, who saw several sitters thwarted by the keeper, was fouled by Andreas Bjelland.

Johnsson then pulled off several stunning stops to keep out shots by Martial and Mata, racking up a total of 13 saves, the most by a keeper in a single Europa League game since 2009.

Copenhagen pushed forward in search of an equaliser in the last 15 minutes of extra time but United’s defence held out as the Old Trafford side booked their third semi-final spot this season after losing out in the League Cup and FA Cup.

Awaiting them on Sunday will be Sevilla — who have won the Europa League and its precursor, the UEFA Cup, a record five times — or domestic rivals Wolves.

LIVEWIRE LUKAKU

Former United striker Romelu Lukaku grabbed the decisive goal for Antonio Conte’s Inter against Leverkusen as the Serie A runners-up moved a step closer to adding to their titles from 1991, 1994 and 1998.

Lukaku was the driving force from the start, imposing himself on the game and disrupting the Leverkusen defence to keep Inter in the hunt for their first trophy in nine years. Inter last played a European semi-final on their way to the Champions League title in 2010.

“The defence did a tremendous job again tonight. We are growing but we have to learn to kill games off when we have the chances to do it, and we didn’t tonight,” said Lukaku. “Now we have time to recover physically and prepare for another great game.”

Nicolo Barella put Inter ahead after 15 minutes, driving the ball home after Lukaku’s shot was blocked, and six minutes later the Belgian got on the scoresheet when he displayed his strength by holding off defender Edmond Tapsoba before firing home.

Leverkusen winger Kai Havertz, reported to be a transfer target of Premier League club Chelsea, pulled a goal back for the Germans but Inter held on to seal their place against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk or FC Basel of Switzerland in next week’s semi-final.

For Leverkusen it was another near miss in a season filled with them. Leverkusen missed out on a Champions League spot on the last day of the Bundesliga and lost the German Cup final to Bayern Munich last month.

“It’s a shame that we couldn’t take that final step,” right back Lars Bender said. “We gave everything.”

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2020