Manchester United beats Betis 4-1 in rousing response to Liverpool rout

The wounds from Sunday’s humiliating 7-0 rout by Liverpool stay recent. But a 4-1 win towards Real Betis within the Europa League was an encouraging response from Erik ten Hag’s gamers.

None extra so than Bruno Fernandes, who scored one and had a job in two extra within the round-of-16 first leg on Thursday.

“I think he was the best player on the pitch, it showed his personality,” United supervisor Ten Hag mentioned.

The Dutchman had given his workforce the possibility to start making amends for Anfield by naming an unchanged lineup. It had the specified impact.

Marcus Rashford scored his twenty sixth objective of the season.

Antony swept a shot into the highest nook from distance. And Wout Weghorst, who had confronted a backlash on social media for touching the well-known “This is Anfield” signal, let his emotion present when firing in United’s fourth.

But maybe nobody wanted redemption greater than Fernandes, who acquired the brunt of the criticism after the collapse towards Liverpool. On this event his efforts had been greeted with approval by United followers in addition to Ten Hag.

“Bruno was fantastic. He led the team with his control of the game and passing and then he scored a goal,” Ten Hag mentioned.

The Portugal worldwide raced towards the Stretford End after heading United right into a 3-1 lead within the 58th minute and positioned his palms over his ears as if to close out the noise that has adopted Sunday’s loss.

There was a second when he let his enthusiasm overflow with a late problem on Betis goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, however this was night time when he channeled his ardour in the correct manner by placing United inside attain of the quarterfinals.

Former United captain and now TV analyst Gary Neville had labeled Fernandes’ efficiency towards Liverpool a “disgrace.”

Against Betis he was United’s driving power.

The Old Trafford crowd sang his title loud as he walked out onto the sector to substantiate he nonetheless had their help.

It was his cross that led to the opening objective after six minutes when Luiz Felipe diverted the ball into Rashford’s path. The England striker drove into the field and lashed a shot into the highest nook.

The recreation was stage at halftime after on-loan Leicester ahead Ayoze Perez fired a low shot previous David de Gea within the thirty second. Perez was solely denied a second when Fernandes’ problem diverted his shot towards the put up earlier than the break.

Antony put United again in entrance seven minutes into the second half with a curling effort from outdoors of the field after being performed in by Fernandes. United’s No. 8 went from supplier to goal-scorer when he headed in Luke Shaw’s nook to place his workforce in full management.

But maybe the most important cheer of the night time got here when Weghorst lashed the ball dwelling within the 82nd after lacking a number of earlier probabilities. The uncooked emotion was evident as he celebrated solely his second objective since becoming a member of on mortgage from Burnley in January and his first at Old Trafford.

ARSENAL HELD

Premier League chief Arsenal was held 2-2 at Sporting Lisbon of their Europa League round-of-16 first-leg match.

Hidemasa Morita’s personal objective within the 62nd minute salvaged the draw for Arsenal forward of the return leg at Emirates Stadium subsequent Thursday for a spot within the quarterfinals.

“There are issues to enhance, however we confirmed a variety of resilience,” Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta mentioned.

Morita deflected Granit Xhaka’s long-distance drive into his personal internet.

Arsenal dominated early possession and went forward by William Saliba. The defender headed within the opener for Arsenal from a nook from Fábio Vieira to capitalize on early strain within the twenty second.

Sporting equalized with virtually an an identical reply, as Arsenal’s protection appeared weak.

Gonçalo Inácio headed dwelling off a Marcus Edwards nook previous goalkeeper Matt Turner 12 minutes after Saliba’s objective.

It was Sporting’s first objective towards Arsenal of their fifth encounter in European competitions.

POGBA DROPPED

Ángel Di María headed within the winner within the second half to offer Juventus a 1-0 first-leg win over Freiburg.

The 35-year-old veteran has scored 4 objectives in his final two Europa League video games.

Juventus was with out midfielder Paul Pogba who was dropped as a result of “disciplinary reasons.”

Elsewhere, Joan Jordán and Erik Lamela scored in a 2-0 win for six-time champion Sevilla over Fenerbahçe.

Ezequiel Bullaude equalized late to safe a 1-1 draw for Feyenoord at Shakhtar Donetsk, the final Ukrainian workforce left on this season’s European competitions. Yaroslav Rakitskyy scored for the hosts in Warsaw due to the Russian navy invasion of Ukraine.

RE-UNION

Substitute Sven Michel salvaged a 3-3 draw for Union Berlin towards Union Saint-Gilloise with a objective a minute from the tip within the German capital.

At Stadio Olimpico in Rome, José Mourinho’s Roma made a step towards advancing with a 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad.

Tammy Abraham arrange the opening objective for Stephan El Shaarawy to complete a quick counter within the first half earlier than substitute defender Marash Kumbulla doubled the benefit with a close-range header.

Bayer Leverkusen had the identical benefit over Ferencváros after Kerem Demirbay opened the scoring within the tenth, and Edmond Tapsoba added the second for the hosts.

EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Michail Antonio struck twice within the first half to information West Ham previous AEK Larnaca 2-0 in Cyprus.

Despite a troubled season within the Premier League, the Hammers have been cruising within the third-tier European competitors with an ideal document.

Fiorentina gained 1-0 over Turkey’s Sivasspor, and Nice beat Sheriff in Moldova 1-0, whereas Poland’s Lech Poznan defeated Swedish membership Djurgarden 2-0. There had been additionally attracts: Basel and Slovan Bratislava 2-2, Gent and Istanbul Basaksehir 1-1.