Europa League: Man United, Inter through to semifinal

Manchester United and Inter Milan have secured berths in the semifinal of the Europa League.

Inter Milan beat Bayern Leverkusen 2-1 on Monday night at the Merkur Spiel-Arena, Nigerian Odion Ighalo was benched as United laboured to an extra time 1-0 win over Danish club, FC Copenhagen.

Both Inter Milan and United missed out on domestic trophies in Italy and England; hence the Europa League is the only remaining silverware in what has been a largely challenging season all thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the Inter versus Leverkusen duel, Antonio Conte’s men did themselves a lot of good racing to a two-goal lead inside 21 minutes.

Nicolo Barella set the tone with his 15th-minute strike before Romelu Lukaku continued his superb goal scoring adding to the tally six minutes afterwards.

Kai Havertz who has been linked with a possible transfer to many clubs in England showed why he is in hot demand as he pulled one back for the German team.

While expectations were high for a more explosive second half, there turned to be no more goals but Inter had done just enough to progress to the semi-final.

Elsewhere, Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty in extra time as ‘dull’ Manchester United scraped past FC Copenhagen 1-0 on Monday in the quarter-finals clash.

Mason Greenwood thought he had put United in front late on in the first half but his effort – as well as Marcus Rashford’s effort shortly after the restart were both ruled out for offside.

United dominated throughout, hitting the post three times before Bruno Fernandes’ penalty after 94 minutes.

United have now set up a semi-final clash against Sevilla or Wolves, joining Inter Milan in the last four following the Italian side’s 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Dusseldorf.