Dhe overjoyed professionals from Villarreal FC celebrated their record coach, a few meters further David de Gea could not be comforted. In a dramatic Europa League final, the Spanish national goalkeeper from Manchester United had missed the decisive 22nd penalty – and had to endure how his compatriots ushered in a long night of partying on Wednesday evening.
The Spanish club celebrated the first European Cup title in club history after 11:10 (1: 1, 1: 1, 1: 0) on penalties in the final crime thriller in Gdansk, but it was the fourth for coach Unai Emery. De Gea missed shortly before midnight after his opponent Gerónimo Rulli had transformed, which caused high spirits among the Spanish football fans who had traveled with him. The 9,500 spectators admitted to the stadium almost created a real final atmosphere.
Gerard Moreno (29th) scored for Villarreal in regular time, while Edinson Cavani (55th) managed to equalize for coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team. After three successes with Sevilla FC, Emery was able to hold the heaviest of all UEFA trophies for the fourth time. United, on the other hand, has to wait for the next big trophy after losing four semifinals.
The fans, who have been missing for a long time in the European Cup, gave a foretaste of the EM games this summer in the modern Gdansk Arena, all of which are to take place in front of spectators under Corona requirements. “Vamos, Submarino”, let’s go submarine, sang the many Spanish supporters in the stadium, alluding to the nickname of their club, even before the game.
Manchester dominated the game for a long time
But then for long stretches the game was determined by Manchester. The star-studded table runner-up of the Premier League season made the game wide and kept looking for old star Cavani in the center. Scott McTominay fired the first warning shot (7th). Solskjaer, who made United the Champions League winner with his winning goal in the legendary final against FC Bayern 22 years ago to the day exactly, looked relatively relaxed in the dugout for almost 30 minutes in a fine suit.
Villarreal’s record coach Emery tipped aggressively along the sidelines from the start. His team had a hard time – the table seventh of the previous season of the Primera División hardly came into offensive action in the first half hour. A free kick by Daniel Parejo was enough for the outsider: Gerard Moreno moved cleverly against the inattentive United defense and shocked the favorite with the opening goal.
Scored 1-1: Manchester striker Edinson Cavani (right)
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Image: AFP
Manchester, who had to do without captain Harry Maguire, who had not yet fully recovered, tried to regain dominance immediately afterwards. Solskjaer cursed on the sidelines as did Cavani on the field. To more than half a chance, which Villarreal’s goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli thwarted (45 + 1), the efforts before the break were not enough.
“Manchester is the favorite, but we can hold back with our character for over 90 minutes,” Emery said shortly before the kick-off at Nitro. Villarreal FC played their first European final, and it was the 14th final of a UEFA competition for United, who had been accompanied to Poland by their iconic coach Sir Alex Ferguson.
Cavani’s goal after a deflected shot from long range by Marcus Rashford brought the English club back into play, which had also failed at RB Leipzig in the group stage of the Champions League. And Manchester put increasing pressure: At times, Villarreal only had the tight defense around their own penalty area for minutes, United around the increasingly stronger midfielder Bruno Fernandes developed almost overwhelming possession.
In the last resort, Pau Torres blocked Cavani’s header, which would have landed in the goal (71.). Without further hits in regular time, the game went into overtime, in which the forces dwindled.
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