On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 26, Villarreal and Manchester United met at the Arena Gdansk in Poland, Villarreal and Manchester United for the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League final with a capacity of 9,500 spectators.
The Spanish club managed to reach the decisive stage for the title without losing a single match and after eliminating another English team, Arsenal. He reached the final of the continental club competition for the first time in its history, and also carried out a perfect campaign to raise the trophy and qualify for the next edition of the UEFA Champions League.
The starting lineup chosen by coach Unai Emery was a 4-4-2 with the following players on the court:
Geronimo Rulli in the arc, four line with Juan Foyth, Raúl Albiol, Pau Torres and Alfonso Pedraza. Forward midfielders Yéremi Pino, Étienne Capoue, Dani Parejo and Manu Trigueros stood up. In the front were Gerard Moreno and Colombian Carlos Bacca.
On the Manchester United side, the Red Devils led by Ole Gunnar Solksjær, faced the final with a 4-2-3-1 formation with the following players:
David De Gea in the arc, a line of four with Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelöf and Luke Shaw. The two midfielders ahead of the defensive backward were Scott McTomina and Paul Pogba. Ahead of them were youth players Mason Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford. As the area 9 he played Uruguayan Edinson Cavani.
The last time Carlos Bacca had won the title was in the 2014/15 edition, when he played for Sevilla, also led by his current coach, Unai Emery. On that occasion the Andalusian club defeated Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine 3-2.
The same situation had happened in the 2013/14 edition, when Seville drew 0-0 against Benfica in the final and in the penalty shootout they beat the Portuguese 4-2 with Bacca also on Emery's starting roster.
This is how the final played out in Poland:
Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay tried the goal by shooting from the middle distance in the sixth minute coming from behind, but his shot went astray and did not create greater danger for the Spaniards.
Carlos Bacca appeared clearly in the 22nd minute in a play that seemed finished but that the Colombian did not waste keeping the rebound and sending a rabona cross. The luxury pass was headed by his teammate Gerard Moreno, who sent the ball over the crossbar. With masterful technique, Villarreal reported his first arrival on English goal.
The opening of the scoreboard happened at 29 minutes after a dispatch of stop ball by Dani Parejo who knew how to connect and raise Gerard Moreno. The Spanish attacker broke away from United's mark and surprised with a shot from the ground outside the small area of David De Gea:
Before going to the break, Geronimo Rulli was careful to stop the draw for the English in an action that narrowly ended in Raúl Albiol's own goal after a cross from Greenwood.
Second half:
Bacca had the opportunity the margin of difference at the start of the second half after a deviant cross from Alfonso Pedraza that bounced off Wan-Bissaka and that the Colombian could not connect while on the ground and referenced by United defenders.
Edinson Cavani appeared. 'El Matador', who is usually in all rebounding plays to take advantage of in two halves, put things 1-1 in 55 minutes after a series of rebounds and clearance errors by Villarreal in the Spanish area. With a hoot, the oriental beat Geronimo Rulli after a corner kick that left Marcus Rashford with chances to finish on goal and subsequently equalize the actions:
The first replacement of the final was made by Villarreal. Emery decided to sacrifice Carlos Bacca in attack to give his team more creation from the midfield and in 60 minutes he gave him entry to Frenchman Francis Coquelin.
At 69, Manchester had the clearest of the game after the draw and it was a missed chance by Marcus Rashford who missed the aim in a heads-up against Rulli. Bruno Fernandes sent a solo pass to the English youth, but he did not have the strength necessary to seal the winning goal.
In the 71st minute, Cavani reappeared by connecting a center sent by Luke Shaw. Fortunately for the 'Yellow Submarino', the shot was taken off the head by Pau Torres, who prevented the match from going 1-2.
Neither Spaniards nor English managed to make differences in the complement and the match went to extra time and later, to collections from the penalty kick to define the champion.
Penalty shootout:
Villarreal won first and then Manchester United:
[✓] 1-0 Gerard Moreno | [✓] 1-1 Juan Mata
[✓] 2-1 Raba | [✓] 2-2 Alex Telles
[✓] 3-2 Paco Alcácer | [✓] 3-3 Bruno Fernandes
[✓] 4-3 Alberto Moreno | [✓] 4-4 Marcus Rashford
[✓] 5-4 Dani Pair | [✓] 5-5 Edinson Cavani
Receipts without margin of error:
[✓] 6-5 Me Gómez | [✓] 6-6 Fred
[✓] 7-6 Raul Albiol | [✓] 7-7 Daniel James
[✓] 8-7 Francis Coquelin | [✓] 8-8 Paul Pogba
[✓] 9-8 Mario Gaspar | [✓] 9-9 Axel Tuanzebe
[✓] 10-9 Pau Torres | [✓] 10-10 Victor Lindelof
[✓] 11-10 Geronimo Rulli | [X] 11-10 David De Gea
Villarreal's attempts in the last two decades to reach a continental final
The Colombian team Carlos Bacca managed to enter a UEFA cup final for the first time. In the 2003/04 season of the then called UEFA Cup, Villarreal fell in the semifinal against Valencia, and in the 2005/06 season Arsenal eliminated him from the UEFA Champions League also in the semifinal stage.
In the 2010/11 season, Porto de Portugal took him out of the semifinal of the UEFA Europa League and Liverpool did the same in the 2016/17 edition.
With this title, Carlos Bacca won his third UEFA Europa League, which means the sixth title in his club career.
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