Villareal won the Europa League after beating Manchester United on penalties.
The game went to extra time after goals from Gerard Moreno and Edison Cavani left the result hanging in the balance at 1-1.
Ultimately, after 20 penalties, it was Geronimo Rulli’s ability to score his own, then save David De Gea’s penalty which won Villareal the game.
This earnt Villareal their first ever major trophy.
Previous matchups
Villareal and Manchester United had faced each other just four times in their whole history. The first came in just 2005, with the last in 2008.
On each occasion, the sides were stalemated in a 0-0 draw.
Thus, fans would have been hoping to see a far more exciting game 13 years later.
Lineups
Manchester United:
- David De Gea
- Aaron Wan Bissaka
- Eric Bailly
- Victor Lindelof
- Luke Shaw
- Scott McTominay
- Paul Pogba
- Mason Greenwood
- Bruno Fernandes
- Marcus Rashford
- Edinson Cavani
Villareal:
- Geronimo Rulli
- Juan Foyth
- Raul Albiol
- Pau Torres
- Alfonso Pedraza
- Yeremi Pino
- Etienne Capoue
- Daniel Parejo
- Manuel Trigueros
- Gerard Moreno
- Carlos Bacca
Key events
The first chance of the game fell to Scottish international Scott McTominay, who received the ball on the edge of the box from Marcus Rashford, and struck his effort wide of Rulli’s goalposts.
In the 15th minute, Manuel Trigueros came close after Daniel Parejo’s corner was met by the Spaniard, but he couldn’t keep it under the bar.
Five minutes later, a cleared cross fell to English left back Luke Shaw, who drilled a ball into the back post, but was unable to find a teammate with his delivery.
Villareal continued to create more half chances. Colombian Carlos Bacca used his South American skill to robona cross the ball, but Pau Torres couldn’t keep his headed effort down.
In the 29th minute, Gerard Moreno broke the deadlock in this intense affair. Parejo lifted in a pinpoint ball from a freekick, which Moreno was able to run onto, letting the ball drop, before he struck his effort past David De Gea.
United then struggled to break through the deadlocked Villareal defence. Whatever they tried to muster up, Torres and Raul Albiol were able to meet it.
Subsequently, when Mason Greenwood used his electric pace to beat his man on the right flank, he whipped in a teasing delivery for Cavani. However, Albiol was there to deflect it back to Rulli.
As a result, Villareal had a narrow 1-0 lead at half time.
Minutes after the start of the second half, Alfonso Pedraza put in a delivery which Bacca couldn’t convert from, and United scrambled it away.
In the 52nd minute, Greenwood went down after pressure from Pedraza, but the referee and VAR both agreed against it being a penalty.
Three minutes later, Cavani levelled it for United, after Rashford’s long distanced volley deflected, and Cavani used his predatorial instincts to pounce first, and fire the ball into the back of the net.
United then put on the pressure to take the lead in the final.
Bruno Fernandes went wide after meeting a loose pass from the edge of the box.
In the 70th minute, an offside flag saved Rashford’s blushes, after Fernandes found himself in rare space on the left flank. The Portuguese met United’s number 10 with an accurate pass, but Rashford was unable to get his effort on target.
A minute later, Torres made a vital block to prevent Cavani from heading United in front, after Shaw fired in a cross to the Uruguayan.
In the 89th minute, French midfielder Paul Pogba rose highest to meet Shaw’s cross, but his effort flew over the bar.
Three minutes of additional time were awarded.
In the second, of the three added minutes, Torres found space in the box, but his effort was comfortably seen wide by De Gea.
As a result, the game reached fulltime at 0-0.
Villareal started extra time far better than they ended the initial 90 minutes.
They began creating a couple half chances, which they were unable to convert.
The score remained 1-1 going into the second half of extra time.
Similarly, to the first half of extra time, very little was created from either side.
Consequently, the game went to penalties.
Penalties
Villareal took first.
Moreno scored the first penalty, comfortably sending De Gea the wrong way.
Fresh off the bench, Juan Mata expertly placed his penalty in the top corner past Rulli.
Daniel Raba put Villareal 2-1 up after firing down the middle.
Alex Telles levelled the scores with a secure bottom corner finish.
Paco Alcacer came close to his effort being saved after De Gea got a hand to it, but it wasn’t enough to stop the penalty.
Fernandes just squeezed his penalty past Rulli to level the scores at 3-3
Ex Liverpool defender Alberto Moreno drilled his penalty safely into the bottom right hand corner.
Rashford’s stuttered penalty sent Rulli the wrong way to equal the shootout again.
Parejo did enough to see his penalty past De Gea.
Cavani fired his penalty into the top corner.
Moi Gomez struck his penalty down the middle away from De Gea.
Fred’s powerful strike, was enough to prevent Rulli from getting a strong enough hand on it to stop the Brazilian from scoring.
Albiol calmly placed his penalty in the bottom right corner.
Daniel James struck his penalty well into the top corner.
Francis Coquelin hit a superb penalty into the roof of the net.
Luke Shaw’s penalty just got past Rulli into the bottom righthand corner.
Mario Gaspar firmly slotted Villareal 9-8 up.
Axel Tuanzebe strolled up and casually placed his effort into the top right corner.
Torres scored a perfect penalty right into the top left hand corner.
Like Torres, Lindelof struck his penalty right into the top left corner.
This made the scores 10-10, with just the goalkeepers left.
Rulli blasted his penalty past De Gea to make it 11-10.
De Gea struck his penalty low, but Rulli was able to make the save to win the shootout.
Villareal won 11-10 on penalties.
The difference makers
After 120 minutes of football played, two players made the fundamental difference. Villareal’s centre defensive partnership of Albiol and Torres were phenomenal.
Every chance United had, the Spanish defenders would prevent. Every shot United took, they blocked. This performance prevented United from scoring multiple goals, and kept Villareal in the game.
Even with the pace of Greenwood and Rashford, mixed with the creativity of Fernandes and Pogba, United couldn’t get past the Villareal centre halves.
Post Match Reaction
When asked how Solskjaer felt after the game, he said: “disappointed, dejected, that’s football.”
In addition, Solskjaer mentioned that: “we should have built more pressure, I thought we gave the ball away a little too often.”
After the goal, Solskjaer said he: “didn’t feel that we were, putting them under enough pressure.”
Ultimately, it’s back to the drawing board for Solskjaer’s men, who will be hoping for a successful summer transfer window to bring in the required quality needed to get over the line in these fine margin games, and bring trophies back to Old Trafford.