Europa League: Red Devils Bounce Back after Liverpool’s Drubbing, Wallops Betis 4 – 1

By Sakiru Olopade 

The Red Devils fans can now heave a deep sigh of relief with the 4-1 victory recorded by their darling team in round 16 of Europa League against 5th placed Real Betis in the Spanish La’Liga.

It would be recalled that days ago, the Red Devils were pummeled by Liverpool at Anfield by a whooping seven goals to the surprise of many football pundits based on the United form.

Manchester United, playing at the theatre of dreams, were torn in the flesh of Real Betis, fighting like a wounded lion, in a killer mood to appease their fans for their shambolic performance against Liverpool.

Marcus Rashford, as early as 6th minute, smashed in a powerful strike to register the 1st goal of the encounter, but against the run of play, Real Betis cancelled the United’s lead in the 32nd minute through on loan Ayoze Perez, firing pass David De Gea into the bottom corner of the goal post.

The second half saw a more determined United side, going all out and at exactly 52nd minutes, Antony restored Manchester United’s lead with a superb strike, curled shot to the far corner of the post.

Credit must be given to Betis goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, despite the loss, he made some daring saves to prevent Betis from being battered beyond redemption.

However, the team skipper, Bruno Fernandes, who was the MOTM capped his Sterling performance with the goal via a beautiful header from Luke Shaw’s outswinging corner kick.

The introduction of Scott Mc Tominay and Facundo Pellistri by Erik Ten Hag paid off as both players added more bite to the United squad. In the 82nd minute, Wout Weghorst, capitalizing on the rebounce.

After a good combination between Scott Mc Tominay and Facundo Pellistri was too much for Bravo to catch once but he parried the ball for Wout Weghorst to fire home his 1st goal in United colour, that was emotional celebrated by his colleagues and spectators with a roar at the stand to give United a comprehensive victory ahead of the return leg next week Thursday in Spain which will be an acid test for the Betis to overturn the table against Manchester United for the quarter final ticket.

In the meantime, the Mikel Arteta’s side, Arsenal, equally had a nice outing with a 2- 2 draw away to Sporting CP.