Solskjaer's United on track for Champions League qualification

Mason Greenwood's late winner against Brighton propelled Manchester United to within touching distance of a second consecutive top four finish.

It was a far from impressive performance and, in truth, a draw probably would have been fair but we got the job done and it's a big, big result in the context of our season and given what happened elsewhere. 

Having only sealed the deal on the final day of last season's protracted campaign, the Reds look set to do so with a bit to spare this time around. The win over the south coast Seagulls completed an ideal sequence of results over the Easter weekend in which our top four rivals Chelsea, Tottenham and Leicester all failed to win.

Thomas Tuchel's Blues fell victim to one of the biggest shocks of this unpredictable season with a 5-2 home defeat to struggling West Brom. Despite their stunning salvo at Stamford Bridge, it seems unlikely Big Sam's side will stave off the threat of relegation but it was an extraordinary upset as they brought Tuchel's unbeaten start in the Chelsea dugout to a spectacular halt and did the Reds a significant and timely favour in the process. 

Leicester, in third, went down to a 2-0 home defeat to champions elect Manchester City before Arsenal loanee Joe Willock, of all people, struck late at St James Park to rescue a potentially priceless point for struggling Newcastle against Spurs. Joelinton had put Steve Bruce's Magpies ahead only for a Harry Kane brace to turn the game around for Jose Mourinho's men. But their late lapse cost them the chance of moving into the top four and again raised questions over Mourinho's suitability for the White Hart Lane job. 

Liverpool's 3-0 win at Arsenal resurrected their top four ambitions and put them firmly back into contention despite a poor season by their recent standards. Jurgen Klopp's side are level on points with Tottenham (49) but have a slightly worse goal difference. West Ham also have 49 points and are seventh ahead of their game at mid-table Wolves on Easter Monday. 

So what does it all mean? United consolidate second position, stretching their advantage over closest rivals Leicester to four points and giving us valuable breathing space. Eleven ahead of fifth placed Spurs and nine ahead of Chelsea in fourth with eight games left, Solskjaer's side have 60 points and need seven more from their remaining fixtures to improve on last season's tally of 66. It would require a minor mathematical miracle and a significant leap of the imagination for us to miss out from this position. Three more wins should be enough to be sure of a top four finish and secure a second consecutive Champions League qualification (via the league) for the first time since the retirement of Sir Alex. Only a Devon-Loch style denouement will see us miss out from this position. It hasn't always been easy on the eye, but - as the season reaches its pivotal stage - the result is all that matters. 

The Reds were third last season, so an improved points tally and second place this time would represent a clear upward trajectory. An legitimate argument could be made that second is no different from third as the same prize is on offer, but to finish as runners up gives you a status and the honour of being "best of the rest." With an eleven point cushion - although that could become eight should West Ham and Everton win their games in hand - it also gives us a little bit of wriggle room.

United's destiny went to the final day in 2019-20 and we paid the price of it with rotated sides in the cups costing a chance of silverware. Here, though, we're almost in a position where we can flip that scenario around and focus on prioritising the Europa League as we chase an elusive first piece of silverware under Solskjaer. If that means some understrength sides in the remaining league games then so be it -  we'd all settle for a dip in the latter stages of the league if it means European glory in Gdansk next month. 

United play Mourinho's Tottenham, Burnley, Leeds, Liverpool, Villa, Leicester, Fulham and Wolves in the run-in, a favourable fixture list that should provide enough mileage to get over the line. 

Let's hope we finish with a flourish and therefore avoid the same squeaky bum time finale we had to endure last term. 

Match report: Manchester United 2-1 Brighton&HA

A late Mason Greenwood winner sealed United's come-from-behind victory and earned the Reds breathing space in the fight for the top four.

As the Reds resumed domestic duties after the international break, Brighton looked on course for their first ever Old Trafford victory in an impressive first half, defending heroically and threatening on the break after former Red Danny Welbeck had nodded the Seagulls ahead in the first half.

Marcus Rashford swept home the leveller before Greenwood pounced from Pogba's miskick into the turf to head home seven minutes from the end and open up a four-point gap to third placed Leicester City. 
The result left Graham Potter's eye-catching visitors six points above the drop zone, but their performance showed more than enough grit, resilience and occasional quality to suggest they are a team well equipped to finish comfortably clear of the relegation places.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made four changes from the FA Cup game at Leicester as Luke Shaw, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani came in for Alex Telles, Nemanja Matic, Donny van de Beek and Anthony Martial. Before the game, manager Solskjaer hinted the Frenchman won't play again for United this season having sustained ankle ligament damage on international duty with France.

With Martial's absence, Rashford carrying an injury and Cavani out of form, Greenwood may have to carry the burden of United's attacking intent as the season enters its final run in. The 19-year-old was a constant threat to Brighton, pulling the strings from the right as he came closest to opening the scoring early on.

Greenwood raced through and fired off a post in the tenth minute but, three minutes later, the south coast side took the lead. On their 14th visit to Old Trafford, it was with a sense of inevitability that Welbeck - so often the scourge of his former side - scored his fourth goal against us since leaving the club in 2014.
Dean Henderson saved superbly from the striker's header after Neal Maupay had picked him out, but there was nothing the Reds stopper could do on the rebound as the ball sat up for Welbeck to apply a simple finish at the Stretford End.

Henderson had to be at his best again moments later as Brighton captain Lewis Dunk thumped a header goalwards, only for the keeper to brilliantly tip the ball onto the bar and away to safety.

Paul Pogba thumped a shot wide from distance but Brighton continued to carry the greater threat with United thankful for Harry Maguire's lunging challenge on Maupay with the Albion striker poised to shoot. 

The Reds were under the cosh and survived a flurry of corners at the end of a half in which Solskjaer's men failed to muster a shot on target as a resilient and well organised Brighton side got through to the break in comfort. 

The obdurate Seagulls continued to frustrate the Reds as Robert Sanchez saved at the feet of Bruno Fernandes after good work from Pogba. Fernandes fired wide but Brighton failed to heed those warning as a much improved United team levelled the tie shortly after the hour mark.
After a sweeping move down the left, the ball found its way to United's Portuguese string-puller. Fernandes was cynically clattered by Joel Veltman as he stabbed into the path of Rashford and United's no.10 drilled the ball across Sanchez and in to the corner for his 19th goal of the campaign.

Maupay and Welbeck had combined to deadly effect for the Albion opener and almost undid the Reds again as the former found the latter and he went down under a challenge from Maguire. Replays showed United perhaps got away with one, but maybe the Reds skipper had done just enough as VAR ruled there was no offence and the hosts survived.

Sanchez saved well from Fernandes and the impressive Greenwood went close again as he fired over the bar having been picked out by substitute Dan James. 

A United winner now seemed only a matter of time and it finally arrived on 83 minutes as Brighton's stern rearguard action finally caved in. Fernandes was again involved as he clipped the ball to Pogba at the back post, and the Frenchman's tame mishit drove his shot into the turf. The ball bounced up nicely into the path of Greenwood and he stooped to nod home his first headed senior goal, despite the desperate attempts of Ben White on the line.

Now forced into a different mindset, Brighton poured forward in search of an equaliser that, in truth, they probably deserved. There was to be no late twist in the tale, though, as United held out for a precious victory that almost makes certain of Champions League qualification.

Overall team performance: 5/10
United Faithful Man of the Match: Mason Greenwood. Scored, hit the post and ran the channels tirelessly all game. 

International Reds round up

Manchester United may have enjoyed a rare break from action but that didn't stop the Reds galaxy of talent from strutting their stuff across the world.
In the first international hiatus of 2021, the road to Qatar 2022 began in earnest with the start of the qualifying rounds.

Starting on these shores, and England made a 100% winning start to proceedings, with a hat-trick of wins over San Marino (5-0), Albania (2-0) and Poland (2-1). Harry Maguire scored the winner late on in the latter to preserve his side's perfect record in their toughest test so far, whilst Luke Shaw returned to the national set up for the first time since 2014 in Tirana. The United left-back earned his ninth cap and set up Harry Kane to open the scoring for the Three Lions and enhance his claim for selection in the European Championship squads. Shaw sat out the other two games as Ben Chilwell took over, whilst Maguire featured in two of the three ties having watched the San Marino mismatch from the bench. Ben Pope started in all three matches with Dean Henderson watching from the bench. Jesse Lingard, rejuvenated since his loan move from one United to another, started against San Marino and came on as a late sub against Albania and a Robert Lewandowski-less Poland as the United man bids to surprisingly force his way into Gareth Southgate's thinking for the summer. 

Having played against group favourites Belgium and lost 3-1, Dan James was restored to the Wales side for their crucial qualifier against the Czechs in Cardiff. The United winger sat out the friendly win over Mexico as caretaker boss Rob Page rested his big guns for the visit of the Czech Republic. The game was heading for a goalless stalemate until James popped up with a rare header ten minute from the end to give the Principality a vital victory in a game that ended ten-a-side. It was James' fourth goal for his country and maintained his fine recent run of form. 

Scott McTominay featured in all three of Scotland's games, both in midfield and at centre-half, as they picked up five points from three games against Austria (where they were twice behind), familiar foes Israel and a 4-0 thumping of minnows Faroe Islands to sit second in Group F after three rounds of ties.

Bruno Fernandes started on the bench for Portugal's opener against Azerbaijan but came off the bench in a 1-0 win, starting the draw in Serbia where he was booked - therefore forcing United's talisman to return to United a few days ahead of schedule as his nation survived a scare to overcome tiny Luxembourg 3-1 with Diogo Jota, a certain Cristiano Ronaldo and Joao Palhinha on the scoresheet. 

Elsewhere, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial featured in an unbeaten start to Les Bleus qualifying campaign, but there was potentially concerning injury news for United as the latter limped off with suspected ligament damage in the world champions 2-0 victory in Kazakhstan. 

Donny van de Beek came of the bench to score for the Netherlands in Gibraltar, grabbing the sixth in a 7-0 thumping of the territorial minnows to put Frank de Boer's Oranje a point behind early pacesetters Turkey after three games. 

Victor Lindelof started at the heart of the Swedish defence in Group B wins over Georgia (1-0) and then Kosovo (3-0) but pulled out of the squad to protect his back injury ahead of side's friendly fixture with Estonia (another 1-0 win). The ageless Zlatan Ibrahimovic, once of this parish, and Sweden's all time top goalscorer, started both competitive matches on his international return - five years after his initial retirement from the national side. 

Unai Simon dislodged David de Gea from Spain's starting XI as the Athletic Bilbao keeper played in all three of La Roja's qualifying games leaving Dave with merely a watching brief from the bench for Luis Enrique's side as they picked up two wins and a draw to lead the way after the opening salvo in Group B.

Manchester United should sign two Leicester players in a heartbeat

Leicester may have been missing James Maddison and Harvey Barnes but their midfield hugely impressed in the FA Cup victory.
Whilst United's incompatible double pivot of an ageing, static Nemanja Matic and the frenetic Fred looked utterly woebegone, the Foxes buzzed around with swash and buckle, vim and vigour, seizing control from the first minutes of the match - a control Brendan Rodgers side would never relinquish.

Maddison, Barnes and Jamie Vardy are the three players most often credited with Leicester's impressive identikit under Brendan Rodgers, with the former Liverpool manager having put together a superb side capable of mixing it with the best in the east Midlands. But it is often a side's most under-rated and unheralded players that prove the bedrock of any success - one look at Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher (to name but two) will tell you that. Those two players hardly ever got the credit they deserved as United's star-studded A listers, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes et al, took centre stage, but we would never have achieved what we did without players like Park, Fletcher and John O'Shea. 

Wilfried Ndidi and Youri Tielemans may not be the first names coming to mind when you look at the bedrock of Leicester's evolution under Rodgers, but the pair are - without question - the finest midfield pairing in the Premier League.
Ndidi and Tielemans were everything "Fretic" weren't - composed, confident, agile, mobile and capable of breaking the lines and creating with their passes. When Ndidi - the 24-year-old Nigerian - plays well, Leicester tend to do the same. It seemed he was everywhere as an enforcer and destroyer in chief. At times, Ndidi seemed to be in midfield on his own, such was his brilliant and bullying influence - five tackles completed, five duels won, three interceptions and three clearances. Matic can barely run never mind even dream of having such an impact and every pass Fred played seemed to be attracted as if by magnets to a blue-clad Foxes player. The anti-Ndidi, I suppose you could say.
I've been a huge admirer of the Nigerian for a while now and yesterday only reaffirmed that view - for all the clamour for Declan Rice, Ndidi should be first choice in the middle of the park at Old Trafford. He would fit like a glove into United's engine room and would offer an instant upgrade on what we already have. Still only 24, he's not even in his prime yet. 

The same could be said for the 23-year-old Belgian Tielemans. The brains alongside with Ndidi's destructive brawn, Tielemans is the man whom makes Leicester tick. He's just as crucial to their success as Vardy, Maddison, Barnes and Kasper Schmeichel. The pair dovetailed delightfully and effortlessly and there was a perfect symmetry to everything they did. Tielemans helped Leicester win the midfield battle (if you can even call it that) with ease and pulled the strings superbly, hassling Fred and Matic into submission and running the game in a manner we've become accustomed to with Bruno Fernandes. 
To cap a stunning individual showing, Tielemans scored the goal to put his side back ahead as he exchanged passes with Ndidi to leave "Fretic" for dead and running through treacle. Epitomising the two midfields, the Belgian was strong and forward-thinking whilst Matic and Fred seemed to be going backwards as he waltzed through acres of space, proved too strong for Victor Lindelof and thumped in beyond Dean Henderson. 

Ndidi provides Leicester with the vital assets every side needs -  athleticism, ability to cover ground quickly, and to recover possession and move the ball on. Not always flashy but always effective, every team needs a player like him. He doesn't offer much in attack but, then again, never really needs to with the likes of Tielemans, Barnes, Vardy, Maddison and Perez the prominent players in that regard. He is simply immense at what he does - protecting the Leicester defence, winning the ball, breaking up play and running the game from midfield like Michael Carrick and Roy Keane used to do. 

 The closest we have to him is Scott McTominay but he's more of a box-to-box man rather than an out-and-out CDM. McTominay's best work comes at the edge of the opposition penalty box rather than ours. 
Tielemans vision and range of passion makes him the perfect foil for Ndidi - a bit like Fernandes but, if (or indeed when) Paul Pogba leaves United - most likely in the summer - the Leicester man would be the perfect, ready-made replacement for the mercurial, World Cup winning Frenchman. To get the best out of McTominay and Fernandes once Pogba goes (assuming he does), we need a more agile, mobile, deep-lying midfield and Ndidi fits the bill perfectly. 

Both Ndidi and Tielemans creep under the radar but they are integral to Leicester's excellent side under Rodgers and would walk into United's ragtag midfield. 

Leicester loss is disappointing but its only the cup...

Manchester United's season-long unbeaten run away from home came to a juddering halt at the hands of Leicester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals. 

United missed out on a place in the last four and a Wembley meeting with Southampton as Brendan Rodgers side proved too strong in the east Midlands as they prevailed through a Kelechi Iheanacho double and a Youri Tielemans effort. 

Of course, any defeat is disappointing but, fortunately for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his players, this is one that probably came at a good time. As the club battles to get into the top four as this season like no other reaches its run in, the last thing anyone really needed was a long and protracted cup run. With Chelsea and Manchester City lurking in the draw, the prospect of us winning the FA Cup was always an unlikely long shot to begin with. The Europa League is far more prestigious and should be considered as our number one priority. 

Fortunately for us, this was not a league game and so we have not lost any ground on our domestic rivals as we bid to seal a second successive season in the Champions League. Its only the FA Cup - a second rate trophy that is always at the bottom of any club's priorities and is it something that anyone really wants any more? Let Leicester have their moment - fair play to them, and let's hope they go on and win it but, for us, this could prove to be a blessing in disguise. 

As we've said, it was always going to be hard to win and if it's not the Premier League or the Champions League then I'm not interested. Those two trophies are the biggest and the best in the game. Win them and you're in business - you're the best in your country and in Europe. But the others mean nowt, aren't important and shouldn't be taken seriously. They're nice to win if you can but don't define your future or the season. The FA Cup is nothing more than a payday for the lower league sides. 

I agreed with what Solskjaer said this week that cup wins mean very little in the grand scheme of things - you can fluke a cup, it doesn't mean you've progressed and no one remembers it anyway. 

I'm not pleased by our departure from it, and why would I be, but I'm certainly not upset by it. United didn't have the squad depth to cope with two cup competitions as well as a league push - we had to prioritise and the Europa League always seemed the more appealing cup to win. An argument could be made that any side worth their salt should be looking to get both trophies, but that's very hard to do in the modern game unless you have a squad like City where their bench is good enough to be anyone else's regular starting XI.

The league is much more important for this club and we have Brighton, then Tottenham, in the Premier League immediately after the upcoming international break. Not only do we want (and need) to secure top four, we also want to try and finish second. As Solskjaer himself said this week league position, and not a random cup win, is the true barometer of progress. Leicester are only one point behind so the FA Cup might prove a distraction for them but, for us, it gives us an edge in the league with one less game to worry about. 

United played in Milan in the Europa League on Thursday whereas Leicester have had a full week off and that definitely affected the tempo and pace of the game. Leicester looked sharper and more 'on it' whereas a much-changed United side were sluggish and off the pace for much of the game. You don't want to use such factors as an excuse but it definitely had an impact on the game. 

All this considered, and you can see why Solskjaer chose to leave Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw on the bench. The pair have been magnificent of late but Solskjaer wanted to keep them fresh for the league so it made sense to leave them out here. Ideally, you wouldn't want to use them at all but at 2-1 down and chasing the game he had very little option. He took a gamble with an eye on the long term and, although it didn't pay off here, no one will be complaining when Solskjaer delivers on his promise of Champions League football. There has been little opportunity to give any of his squad a breather of late so this seemed the perfect opportunity in which to do so.  It's not as if the players he selected in their stead were young kids plucked from the Reserves - they were full internationals in Alex Telles, Nemanja Matic and Donny van de Beek to name but three. These players have played in the other FA Cup rounds - even in the fourth round against Liverpool, Fernandes and Shaw were on the bench so their omissions here should not be a surprise. 

United need to refocus now - we're in a strong position in the league and still have a chance of European glory in May. The FA Cup loss may be the end of the world for some but, fortunately, its far from the be all and end all. 

Match report: Leicester City 3-1 Manchester United

Leicester City powered past an error-strewn and out of sorts Manchester United side as Brendan Rodgers side earned a fully merited victory to set up an FA Cup semi-final with Southampton.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side - fresh from midweek heroics in Milan - fell short in the face of an impressive performance from the Foxes, inspired by the twin midfield partners in crime of Wilfried Ndidi and Youri Tielemans. 

The result may have come as a disappointment but at least it wasn't a league game and came in a second-rate competition that we had very little chance of winning anyway. 

Solskjaer opted to leave out Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw, two of our best performers of late, with one eye on the upcoming league fixtures and in the midst of a hectic fixture schedule, as he shuffled his pack for the last eight trip to the east Midlands in a selection with five changes from the midweek win in the San Siro. 

Kelechi Iheanacho put the hosts ahead after 25 minutes only for Mason Greenwood to equalise with his first goal in 19 games - not since the fourth round win over Liverpool has the 19-year-old been on the scoresheet.
Youri Tielemans raced through unchallenged to restore Leicester's lead and Iheanacho put the result beyond doubt late on to send Brendan Rodgers men to Wembley where they will face the Saints in the semi finals.
Dean Henderson saved well from the always-dangerous Jamie Vardy as the United stopper palmed the ball away from close range to deny Leicester's top scorer.
Harry Maguire snuffed out the danger from the same player soon afterwards but it proved only a temporary reprieve as Leicester took the lead on 25 minutes. United's attempts to play out from the back ended in catastrophe as Henderson rolled the ball to Maguire and he in turn moved it on to Fred. The Brazilian merely needed to roll the ball to our full-backs but instead opted to turn into trouble and go back to Henderson. Iheanacho seized on the gift to round the keeper and gleefully slot into the empty net, hardly able to believe his luck.

Vardy went close again, with United this time bailed out by Aaron Wan - Bissaka, but the Reds equalised out of nothing and against the run of play seven minutes shy of the interval.
The ball was worked out to Paul Pogba on the left-hand side and he burst forward to fire a cross into the box. Donny van de Beek dummied the ball and it ran on to Greenwood to blast home beyond Kasper Schmeichel.

Pogba tested the Foxes keeper from distance and Ayoze Perez went close at the other end but United could consider themselves fortunate to go in at half-time level.

Having discovered Southampton awaited the winners (with the draw made at half-time for some strange reason), you felt the incentive of avoiding both Chelsea and City would act as a catalyst for an improved second half showing.
Unfortunately, United did not awake from their soporific slumber and fell behind again seven minutes after the restart. The move started on halfway as the eye-catching Tielemans played a quick one-two with the impressive Iheanacho and ran at United's back-pedalling defence. With Nemanja Matic back-pedalling, Fred missed his tackle and Victor Lindelof turned his back as the Belgian burst through unchallenged, given all the time in the world to pick his spot and rifle in beyond the advancing Henderson.

Alex Telles thumped a shot wide and Greenwood was snuffed out in the box, before United received a let-off when Vardy fired uncharacteristically wide having been put through by his strike partner Iheanacho.

That prompted Solskjaer to decide he had seen enough as Shaw, Fernandes, Scott McTominay and Edinson Cavani replaced Telles, Matic, van de Beek and Pogba in a four-pronged assault on 64 minutes.

Greenwood headed wide and a Fernandes free-kick was pushed out by Schmeichel but, in truth, the Reds didn't do enough to threaten a second equaliser as Leicester deservedly stretched their lead.
United were undone from a set-piece 12 minutes from time as McTominay - having given the free-kick away in the first place - failed to clear and Iheanacho was left was a simple header at the back post to put the result beyond any lingering doubt.

United now face two weeks without a game with Brighton on Easter Sunday next up after the international break before the Europa League double header with Granada. 

Overall team performance: 5/10
United Faithful Man of the Match: Mason Greenwood 

United's path to potential European glory

 Manchester United's path to potential Europa League glory has been mapped out following today's draws for the quarter and semi finals.
Having edged past the far from insignificant hurdle of Milan to reach the last eight, United are looking to go one better from last season's painful semi final KO at the hands of Sevilla.
The six time winners are absent from the line-up this time around, but there were two Spanish teams in the hat for the quarter finals along with us and Arsenal from England, one from the Netherlands, one from Italy, a Czech team and a club from the Croatian capital.

United did not have long to wait to discover their next European opponents. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men were the second side out of the plastic bowl, to follow Granada and complete the first quarter-final pairing.

There's alway that one team everyone wants - a surprise team seen as fodder, a mere stepping stone on the way to bigger things. Granada are that side this time. 
However, there's no "easy" games at this stage of a tournament, Granada are there on merit and the chance for them to face Manchester United in a European knockout game is the opportunity of a lifetime. It's their cup final and you can be sure they will raise their game to prove they are not just there to make up the numbers.
But, with respect to the La Liga team, Spain's eighth best side represent the best possible scenario at this stage. United faced the toughest draw they could've had against Sociedad and Milan respectively (not forgetting the Champions League Group of Death) so there was a sense that, here, at last, United had been rewarded with a tie that - whilst certainly not "easy" - comes against the weakest team left in the competition. Avoiding the big guns and drawing a mid-table side in their first ever European season in a quarter-final - it's what every United fan will have wanted. 

Having said that, Diego Martinez's side showed their credentials with an impressive 3-2 aggregate victory over high-flying Napoli of Serie A in the last 32 - so under-estimate this side at your peril. They certainly should not be taken for granted and any side in a European quarter-final cannot merely be seen as a foregone conclusion. United have looked increasingly battle-hardened and the growing confidence in Solskjaer's side will only be further enhanced by the prospect of reaching a semi-final that now looks tantalisingly within reach. 

Should we do so, then a considerable step up in class awaits. United will play the winners of Ajax or Roma - the most eye-catching of the quarter final ties, in the last four, should we get there. One of those heavyweights will fall before the semis and, ideally, United will have wanted to avoid either of them. But if you want to win a competition like this one, you will need to beat the strongest sides at some stage or other anyway. The Amsterdam giants appear to be the most difficult hurdle between the Reds and the Gdansk final. 

That means, of course, the growing possibility of an all-English final in May with divisional rivals Arsenal lurking in the other half of the draw. 

The Gunners are the only other British club left in the competition after Spurs were humbled at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb and Rangers were sent packing by the dark horses of Slavia Prague. Arsenal will play the Czech side in their last eight tie whilst Spurs conquerors from the Croatian capital host Villarreal in the other match.

United travel to the Estadio de los Carmenes (Covid restrictions permitting) on the 8 April with the return to be played at Old Trafford a week later in the first ever meeting between the two clubs. 

The semi-finals are 29 April and 6 May with United (if we get there) to play at Old Trafford first ahead of the return in Amsterdam or Rome a week later. 

Europa League quarter-finals:

Granada vs Manchester United
Arsenal vs Slavia Prague
Ajax vs Roma
Dinamo Zagreb vs Villarreal

Semi-finals:

Granada/Manchester United vs Ajax/Roma
Dinamo Zagreb/Villarreal vs Arsenal/Dinamo Zagreb