Spanish international Gerard Moreno opened the scoring for Villarreal in the 29th minute against Manchester United in the Europa League final.
Manchester United is seeking its first trophy under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, while Villarreal is in search of its first major European trophy ever as the two sides meet in the UEFA Europa League final in Gdańsk, Poland.
After a series of semifinal failures in cup competition under Solskjaer, Man United arrived at Wednesday’s final in sensational fashion by routing Roma 8–5 on aggregate in the previous round. Villarreal, coached by three-time Europa League-winning manager Unai Emery, held off Arsenal in a more finely poised semifinal, emerging as a 2–1 aggregate winner.
Man United is already qualified for next season’s Champions League and doesn’t need this title to punch its ticket, but the same cannot be said for Villarreal, which finished seventh in La Liga. A Manchester United win would be received well by Monaco, which stands to gain automatic entry into the Champions League group stage next season despite its third-place finish in Ligue 1. A Villarreal victory would send the Yellow Submarine to the group stage while keeping Monaco in the qualifying playoff round.
As the teams moved cautiously in the opening minutes in front of a raucous crowd, Manchester United looked to take the initiative in the opening minutes. Midfielder Scott McTominay took the first shot from distance in the seventh minute after Marcus Rashford drew the defense away, but the Scottish international’s shot went well wide.
Tottenham loanee Juan Foyth took a nasty blow to the head when he rolled over the ball and fell into Paul Pogba’s knee in the 10th minute. The stretcher came out in fear of a head injury, but Foyth re-entered the game with a bandaged head and bloody nose minutes later.
Luke Shaw gave United a sterling chance in the 20th minute with a scintillating low cross into the box that simply needed a redirect to log the first goal, but it fizzled just out of reach of two United attackers and out of play.
Carlos Bacca looked to give the Yellow Submarine the lead in style in the 23rd minute with a Rabona cross to an open Manu Trigueros, but the ball was just behind enough to throw off the midfielder’s balance as his header soared over the bar.
But Villarreal struck the first blow on the half-hour mark, courtesy of talisman Gerard Moreno. The Spaniard equaled the club’s goalscoring record with his 82nd goal and 30th of the season, latching onto a free-kick cross from Dani Parejo at the back post and turning it past David De Gea for the 1-0 lead.
Stay tuned here for live updates and highlights of goals and key plays from throughout the match (refresh for most recent updates).
Here are the lineups for both clubs:
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