He Manchester United reached the quarterfinals of the Europa League this Thursday after beating Betis 1-0, in the second round of the continental competition at the Benito Villamarín.
A long shot goal from Marcus Rashford (56) ended the hopes of Betis After lifting the resounding 4-1 suffered in the first leg at Old Trafford, after a match for the Andalusian team he set out, but lacked precision.
“We were convinced that we could put pressure on them if we scored an early goal. I’m leaving very happy with what the team did”, said after the meeting Betis coach, Manuel Pellegrini.
The verdiblancos, who accused the foul of the injured Nabil Fekir, They started by pressing United who tried to control the game, but came under pressure from the rivals in the opening minutes of the first half.
Juanmi could open the scoring soon, but his shot too crossed was licking the post (8) and soon after the captain Joaquín almost surprised the goalkeeper David de Gea with a long shot repelled by the post (11).
The Betis arrived more, but found with the good performance of De Gea, who won Juanmi one-on-one when the Betic attacker arrived practically alone (32).
“We had three very clear options that would have changed the game, the score and the pressure with which Manchester United played,” lamented Pellegrini.
United, executioner of Barcelona in the previous round, he slowly shook off the pressure from the locals until he came close to scoring a discount goal in the first half with a shot from Uruguayan Facundo Pellistri in the area that hit the post (45+2).
The rest served, as it happened in the first leg, to activate United that after the break he took control of the match and ended up putting Betis in his field.
“In the second part we were much better with the balln, we kept him in his field and then you create chances”, said the United manager Erik Ten Hag told BT Sport.
Rashford, who had sent a ball to the clouds only against Rui Silva (54), made up for it with a long shot before which the verbiblanco goalkeeper could do nothing (56).
The goal fell like a jug of cold water for Betis, who accused the blow and although he continued fighting to win the game, he found himself surpassed by a United who had become the master of the match.
