Spanish club Villarreal clinched the Europa League title for the first time as they beat English Premier League club Manchester United on the basis of a penalty shootout in the final match played in Poland late on Wednesday. By the time the two teams were tied 1–1. After this, there was no goal in extra time also. In the shootout, however, Villarreal won 11–10. Villarreal has won a major European title for the first time in its 98-year history.
Gerard Moreno gave Villarreal an edge in the 29th minute, and later in the second half in the 55th minute, Edinson Cavani scored an equalizer for Manchester United. This was followed by a thrilling shootout, in which Villarreal prevailed. United’s goalkeeper David Gea missed an easy spot-kick in the shootout, thus ending his team’s four-year-long trophy drought.
The highly awaited match was attended by 9500 fans at the Gdansk football stadium. Villarreal coach Unai Emery has won the trophy for the fourth time in his fifth Europa League final. Earlier he achieved the trophy thrice in a row for Sevilla leading the club from 2013 to 2016. Emery won the competition again by stopping Arsenal in the semi-finals and defeating Manchester United in the final.
Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was confident to win the title after dominating Roma with eight goals but his squad failed to have their mark against Emery’s side. Villarreal is the seventh club to have won either the UEAF Cup or the UEFA Europa League title without losing a match in the season.
Villarreal 2 – 1 Manchester United
Goals: 1 – 0 Moreno 29, 1 – 1 Cavani 55
Bookings: Capoue, Foyth; Bailly, Cavani
Villarreal: Rulli, Alfonso, Torres, Albiol, Foyth, Trigueros, Capoue, Parejo, Pino, Bacca, Moreno
Substitutions: Moreno, Coquelin, Raba, Gaspar, Alcacer, Gomez
Manchester United: de Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw, Pogba, McTominay, Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford, Cavani
Substitutions: Tuanzebe, Fred, Telles, James, Mata
