Manchester United 1, FC Copenhagen 0 (AET, 0-0 FT)
Bruno Fernandes scored Manchester United’s 21st penalty of the season as they struggled past FC Copenhagen in the Europa League.
Embed from Getty ImagesUnited had two goals ruled out for offside by VAR and hit the woodwork three times as they struggled to break down Stale Solbakken’s well organised FC Copenhagen side.
The Reds’ battle with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s friend and Norwegian compatriot saw both sides cancel each other out with United unable to convert their dominance into goals – having a total of 26 chances to Copenhagen’s 9 – with 14 shots on target whereas Copenhagen didn’t trouble Sergio Romero.
The Danes held off United until the fifth minute of Extra Time, reducing the Reds to pot shots from outside the box, but didn’t have a shot on target themselves.
It was United’s 21st penalty of the season that did for the Danes, as Bruno Fernandes slammed in a confident 95th minute spot kick after Anthony Martial was adjudged to have been hauled down by Andreas Bjelland.
But they will have to improve to beat their semi final opponents – either Wolves or Sevilla – after poor finishing and a brilliant performance by Copenhagen ‘keeper Karl-Johan Johnsson kept the Reds on tenterhooks till the very end with 13 saves in all.
Sergio Romeo preferred to David De Gea
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer went for Sergio Romero in goal instead of David De Gea.
In all, there were 6 changes from the LASK game with Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood, Anthony Martial, and Marcus Rashford coming back into the side while Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Scott McTominay, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Daniel James, and Odion Ighalo stepped down.
And in sultry conditions in Germany – temperatures of 32C at kick off at RheinEnergie Stadium in Cologne contributed to neither side overcommitting to a high pressing game.
But United started poorly against the organised Danes who gave the Reds a run for their money in the first few minutes.
Copenhagen had two early chances to rattle the United cage through Mohamed Daramy but Eric Bailly and Brandon Wiliams rescued the Reds while Jens Stage and Jonas Wind had follow-up shots blocked after Fred had given the ball away.
The Danes lost Nicolai Boilesen to a hamstring injury as they sought to catch United on their heels.
Just to add to the mayhem there was a confusing penalty check for United after 21 minutes which was overruled for offside on Harry Maguire after Anthony Martial had a shot tipped over the bar.
The Reds landed a free kick after 28 minutes but Bruno Fernandes blazed it over as the tide started to turn.
Karl-Johan Johnsson shines for FC Copenhagen
Rashford (twice) and Martial spurned reasonable chances while Greenwood thought he had broken the deadlock on the stroke of half time when he cut in from the right to score from an acute angle but he was clearly offside and had the goal ruled out by VAR.
United pressed higher after the restart, with Fred timing a tame shot at Karl-Johan Johnsson.
The flag was up again after that when Greenwood’s shot came off the post and Rashford tucked away the rebound from an offside position.
Fernandes served up another great chance for Greenwood but the youngster miscontrolled it while Rashford’s tame shot from another Fernandes delivery was easy to collected for Johnsson.
Fernandes decided to have a pot shot on his own but was also thwarted by the upright as Copenhagen rode their luck.
Ex-Everton midfielder Bryan Oviedo had a great chance blocked by Wan-Bissaka after Wind laid the ball off to him as the game opened up.
Fernandes and Pogba brought great saves from Johnsson as United went for speculative long range shots.
Solskjaer made a double change with 20 minutes to go, taking off Bailly and Fred – replacing them with Lindelof and Matic.
VAR decided there was no case to answer after Guillermo Varela went down under a challenge from Williams as she tried to run the ball into the box late on.
And Johnsson dived across late on to make a terrific one handed save from Martial’s long range curling effort while Martial was tackled by Victor Nelsson in injury time as he danced into the area.
Johnsson twice blocked Martial as United started Extra Time on the front foot before the Reds earned a penalty after he was hauled down in the area soon after Juan Mata came on to give the Reds more guile.
Bruno Fernandes adapts his penalty routine
Fernandes stepped up and changed his spot kick technique, going straight up for power to the left beyond the reach of Johnsson five minutes into added time for his 11th goal of the season.
Mata and Fernandes were denied a second goal by Johnsson after brilliant movement by Martial following a pass by Pogba as Copenhagen had to push up.
Johnsson continued to be brilliant in goal, denying Rashford, Pogba, and Mata before Victor Lindelof hit the post.
Marcus Rashford was withdrawn late on for Jesse Lingard as he started to struggle with United seeing out the win despite players of both sides drooping in the heat and one hairy moment when Copenhagen won a free kick but messed up their set piece routine.
Goals – Manchester United 1, FC Copenhagen 0 (AET, 0-0 FT)
Man Utd 1, FC Copenhagen 0: 95. Bruno Fernandes stepped up and changed his spot kick technique, going straight up for power to the left, beyond the reach of Karl-Johan Johnsson five minutes into added time after Anthony Martial had been hauled down by Andreas Bjelland.
Match Stats – Manchester United 1, FC Copenhagen 0 (AET, 0-0 FT)
Man Utd: Romero, Wan-Bissaka, Bailly (Lindelof 70), Maguire, Williams, Fernandes, Fred (Matic 70), Pogba, Greenwood (Mata 91), Martial (McTominay 120+1), Rashford (Lingard 113)
Man Utd Subs not used: De Gea, Pereira, James, Fosu-Mensah, Ighalo, Chong, Mengi
Booked: Maguire 61 (foul on Kaufmann), Bailly 63 (foul on Jonas Wind)
Goal: Fernandes pen 95
FC Copenhagen: Johnsson, Varela (Bartolec 105), Nelsson, Bjelland, Boilesen (Bengtsson 15), Biel (Oviedo 57), Stage (Mudrazija 105), Zeca, Daramy (Kaufmann 57), Wind, Falk (Boving 112), Jensen
FC Copenhagen Subs not used: Andersen, Papagiannopoulos, Grytebust, Hjaelmhof
Booked: Stage 78 (foul on Marcus Rashford), Zeca 105+2, Kaufmann
Referee: Clement Turpin