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Man City comfortably beat Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Youth League

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MAN CITY U19 3, SHAKHTAR DONETSK 1

Manchester City U19 had to wait until injury time to confirm victory against a hard working Shakhtar Donetsk U19 side with goals by Phil Foden, Joel Latibeaudiere, and Taylor Richards.

Phil Foden congratulates Joel Latibeaudiere on his goal for Man City U19 against Shakhtar Donetsk
Phil Foden (left) congratulates Joel Latibeaudiere (centre) on his goal for Man City U19 against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Youth League

Foden’s goal came after Joel Latibeaudiere’s opener late in the first half but although Shakhtar pulled one back quickly through their captain Volodymyr Yakimets they couldn’t push for an equaliser against their more accomplished hosts.

Taylor Richards made sure of the win in added time with a low drive past Vladyslav Vertiei to secure their second win in a row in the UEFA Youth League on a warm afternoon across the road from the Etihad Stadium.

Early movement from Brahim Diaz kept the visitors busy in the opening minutes and Benjamin Garre was adjudged to be offside in the 21st minute when he thought he had scored.

Valerii Bondar’s header from Yukhym Konoplia was well saved by Daniel Grimshaw while Ed Francis had a tame free kick easily saved by Vladyslav Vertiei after 32 minutes and Benjamin Garre and Phil Foden also tested the Shakhtar ‘keeper.

The breakthrough came 2 minutes before the break when Joel Latibeaudiere headed in a Brahim Diaz corner past Vertiei after 43 minutes.

Diaz had been finding space throughout the game and almost doubled the lead on the stroke of half time when his curling effort was tipped away by Vertiei.

Phil Foden celebrates his goal in Man City's U19 game against Shakhtar Donetsk U19 in the UEFA Youth League
Phil Foden celebrates his goal in Man City’s U19 game against Shakhtar Donetsk U19 in the UEFA Youth League

City’s attacking trident was in fine fettle after the break and Benjamin Garre and Brahim Diaz were instrumental in Phil Foden’s 49th minute close range finish shortly after the restart.

Shakhtar were not for giving up, though, and quickly pulled one back through captain Volodymyr Yakimets under four minutes later.

Rabbi Matondo forced a great save out of Vertiei with a close range shot from wide on the right as City went for a third shortly after the hour mark.

Grimshaw was a spectator for much of the second half but did pull off a save from Andrii Kulakov while his opposite number Vertiei palmed over a rising drive by Tom Dele-Bashiru.

There was late drama as Dmytro Topalov’s cross was missed by everyone but City cleared the danger before Oleksii Kashchuk could get to the loose ball while Foden spurned a couple of late chances to make the win safe.

Shakhtar finally put a sustained threat on in the last minutes of the game but City comfortably contained the threat from their visitors and Taylor Richards underlined City’s good performance with an injury time goal.

Man City U19 v Shakhtar Donetsk U19 Match Facts

Man City U19: Grimshaw, E Garcia, Latibeaudiere, Francis, Davenport, Smith, Matondo (Richards 72), T Dele-Bashiru (Diallo 90), Diaz, Foden, Garre (Gonzalez 75)

Man City U18 Subs: Sokol, Wilson, Pozo, Diallo, Richards, Touaizi, Gonzalez

Shakhtar Donetsk U19: Vertiei, Konoplia, Muravskyi, Bondar, Komiienko, Chekh (Kryskiv 46), Kashchuk, Yakimets, Topalov, Kholod (Andrushenko 75), Kulakov (Kuzmenko)

Shakhtar Donetsk U19 Subs: Kuzmenko, Hurskyi, Mate, Shushko, Pavlish, Andrushchenko, Kryskiv

Goals: Joel Latibeaudiere 43, Phil Foden 49, Taylor Richards 90; Volodymyr Yakimets 53

Booking: Muravskyi 77

Real Madrid lift the UEFA Super Cup with victory over Manchester United

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MANCHESTER UNITED 1, REAL MADRID 2 (UEFA Super Cup)

Manchester United wilted in the 30 degree heat of the Philip II Arena in Skopje as Real Madrid lifted their fourth UEFA Super Cup.

Real could have run out more convincing winners after dominating the early play and hitting the woodwork twice in Macedonia against a strong United side.

United manager Jose Mourinho opted to field all three of his summer signings in Victor Lindelof, Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku and appeared to spring a tactical surprise on his opposite number Zinedine Zidane by playing with three central defenders and two wing backs to counter the Real threat of Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema with Isco playing just off them.

Lindelof was joined by Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian at the centre of the defence while Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard were deployed as wing-backs.

There was a little spice added to the build up before this contest with United manager Jose Mourinho unusually making his interest in Madrid forward Bale clear before kick off.

Bale was always going to play in this game despite any mischievous pre-game remarks from the Portuguese as Cristiano Ronaldo had been given extra time off following his summer involvement with the Confederations Cup.

The Welsh winger laid on what turned out to be the winner for Isco after 52 minutes to put the Champions League winners 2-0.

It was a just reward for a dominant first half from Real, who had 61% of early possession, with Casemiro hitting the crossbar before Dani Carvajal set him up with a ball over the top for the midfielder to stride onto and open the scoring in the 23rd minute.

There was a hint of offside about the Real opener but it was no less than they deserved in the first half.

After going 2-0 down in the second half the Reds could have pulled one back immediately through Lukaku but the Belgian blazed his effort over the cross bar after Paul Pogba’s effort came off Keylor Navas.

Lukaku did reduce the deficit to make it 2-1 but only after Bale himself had hit the crossbar which would have made it a comfortable win for Real.

United finished strongly after switching to a more direct style with Marouane Fellaini on the pitch for Ander Herrera but fellow substitute Marcus Rashford couldn’t level things up – instead shooting wide as Real deservedly lifted the Super Cup.

Jose Mourinho has already handed next season’s shopping list to Ed Woodward after ‘a difficult season’ and hopes that Wayne Rooney will stay at Manchester United

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  • Goals by Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan sealed a 2-0 victory for Manchester United against Ajax at the Friends Arena as they won the Europa League in Stockholm.
  • Reds players paid an emotional tribute to Manchester following victory in Stockholm.
  • The Reds will now compete for the European Supercup in Skopje, Macedonia on August 8 with the winners of this season’s Champions League – either Juventus or Jose Mourinho’s former club Real Madrid.
  • Winning the Europa League means the Reds become England’s fifth Champions League team in next season’s competition, with two Europa League spots taken up by Arsenal and Everton.

Jose Mourinho was ready for a holiday after his most difficult season as a manager but he has already handed a shopping list of players to Ed Woodward for next season while declaring that Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney still had a role to play at the club despite only getting on in the final minute of a 2-0 win over Ajax that clinched the Europa League in Stockholm.

It was the second time that Mourinho had won the Europa League after victory with Porto in 2003. He also won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 and with Inter Milan in 2010 – and became the first manager to win both of the major European club trophies more than once.

The Portuguese manager was all smiles as he was given the bumps by his staff after the game and celebrated with his players on the pitch. He emerged late from the United dressing room but, unlike Sunday’s final game of the Premier League, the Portuguese had plenty to say.

He said: “It’s the end of a very difficult season but it’s been a very good season.

“We prefer to finish this way than finish fourth, third or second. We go back to the Champions League by winning an important title.

“The club now has every title in world football and we fought hard for this since the beginning.

“We always had in our mind that we could win the Europa League. We are very happy especially since we won the final very intelligently in a comfortable way against a good team but we were much stronger than them.”

Another tactical masterclass from Jose Mourinho

The Portuguese has often had no time for ‘poetic’ football during a trophy laden career, but he was especially pleased with a haul of three in a season plus qualification for next season’s Champions League for Manchester United.

It was definitely a case of men against boys as his experienced campaigners countered the youthful Ajax team.

He explained: “If they want to press the ball all the time you don’t play short. You go long.

“We knew where they were better than us, and we knew where we were better than them.

“We tried to exploit their weaknesses.”

Jose Mourinho ready for a holiday after his ‘most difficult season’ and has already handed a shopping list to Ed Woodward

Mourinho said: “Now from a selfish perspective, I am on holiday.

“It’s been very hard to organise these last months without important players and trying to give players rests.

“The kids were amazing in the help they gave us in the last match [against Crystal Palace] and we managed to finish with some dignity. We won 3 trophies and qualified for the Champions League.

“It’s been my most difficult season as a manager.

Mourinho challenged the club to strengthen for an even harder campaign next season, adding: “Ed Woodward has my analysis and knows what I want and what I would like for more than 2 months. It’s for him and the owners now and I must wait.”

Waiting game for Wayne Rooney.

Wayne Rooney only came on as a substitute right at the end of the match for Juan Mata but Mourinho was adamant that the club captain still had a role to play despite limited game time in the final.

He said: “Wayne was ready to play. He was a big option. The game was important. We had to control the game and delay the changes.

“I don’t need to attack [in the second half] but Wayne was ready. We spoke yesterday and he knew he could be a crucial man in the match.

“He can be here next season because he’s a very important player. If he stays with us next season I am more than happy with that.”

Victorious Manchester United players have their say

Paul Pogba was proud to win more silverware for United after scoring his ninth goal of the season, declaring: “We have three trophies [this season] and we can enjoy it now.”

His fellow goalscorer Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who notched his 11th goal of the season – and 6th in the Europa League, praised his team mates, saying: “Without them I cannot score so many goals. I was every day dreaming to score in the final.”

The Armenian also added a tribute for the people of Manchester following the sad events of Monday night, adding: “People are very sad all over the world. We had to focus and we won for the people of Manchester, and we won it for the country.”

Juan Mata agreed with his United team mate, saying: “It’s a chance to play Champions League football next season and we did it. It means a lot, it was a great final.

“It’s my first European trophy with United and hopefully the first of many.

“It was a very difficult week for our fans and the city of Manchester.”

And Manchester unites after a difficult week…

United players posed with a banner that was allowed into the Friends Arena Stadium.

Manchester City tweeted out a message for all of Manchester after the game saying simply #ACITYUNITED

In Manchester’s darkest hour, United beat Ajax to win Europa League and claim Champions League place

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AJAX 0, MAN UNITED 2

As Manchester mourns the victims of Monday’s terrorist attack in one of the city’s darkest ever weeks, United provided some cheer by lifting the Europa League.

UEFA’s decision to go ahead with the final at Stockholm’s Friends Arena and not bow to bombers was vindicated as United won the piece of silverware that could be worth £70million to the Reds.

With victory comes a coveted place in the Champions League with all the riches that go with competing in Europe’s premier club competition.

Paul Pogba’s early goal and a second-half strike from Henrikh Mkhitaryan proved decisive as Jose Mourinho completed his first season as United manager with a treble.

It may a poor man’s version of the 1999 treble, but the Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield is a decent return from Jose Mourinho’s first season as manager.

And though United claimed a Champions League place by the backdoor after finishing outside the Premier League’s top four, they will mix it with Europe’s elite again next season after missing out in the current campaign.

Though Ajax’s young side – the average age of their side was 22 years and 282 days – played some sparkling football and dominated possession – they had more than two third – Mourinho’s men proved the worth of experience and having a manager who relishes such big occasions.

Juan Mata’s selection was the main surprise as he was preferred to Jesse Lingard in the starting line up.

Daley Blind was preferred to Phil Jones in the centre of defence as the replacement for the suspended Eric Bailly.

Sergio Romero, as expected, was given the goalkeeper’s shirt in front of David De Gea.

Ajax’s only major absentee was left-back Nick Viergever who was suspended.

And it was another young side with Lasse Schone the only player over the age of 25.

Though some of the pre-match entertainment was cancelled as a mark of respect to those who died in the Manchester terrorist attack, there was still a carnival atmosphere in the Friends Arena.

But the minute’s silence became spontaneous applause by both sets of supporters with United supporters chanting Manchester, Manchester.

And there was a lively opening as United had their first chance after only 25 seconds when Ajax keeper Andre Onana collided with defender Joel Veltman and Paul Pogba seized on the opening, but fired wide.

After that initial frenzy, the teams cancelled each other out, though Bertrand Traore forced a straightforward save from Romero after quarter of an hour.

The breakthrough came in the 18th minute, albeit with a huge slice of luck as Pogba’s innocuous shot deflected off Davinson Sanchez and looped over keeper Onana. It was his ninth goal of the season and followed a neat build up as United moved the ball with purpose from a throw in.

United’s confidence surged as Antonio Valentia burst into the box and his fiercely struck angled shot was beaten out bu Onana.

United gained a stranglehold of the game when they added a second goal within three minutes of the restart.

Blind’s corner was headed goalwards by Smalling and Mkhitaryan found the net with a semi-overhead kick from six yards. It was his 11th goal of the season and sixth in 11 Europa League games.

Marouane Fellaini might have added a third goal but could only direct his header straight at Onana from Pogba’s cross.

Ajax had already made two substitutions by the time United made their first change with 16 minutes left when Mkhitaryan was replaced by Lingard.

And there was soon a second as Anthony Martial took over from Marcus Rashford up top.

Lingard had the chance to add a third as he burst clear from half way pursued by two defenders. But just as he was about to shoot, he slipped and tumbled to the ground appealing for a penalty, but in hope rather than convincingly.

There was even a cameo from Wayne Rooney who made his entrance with stoppage time about to begin as he replaced Mata.

Manchester United stumble past Celta Vigo to reach final of Europa League

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MAN UNITED 1, CELTA VIGO 1
(United won 2-1 on aggregate)

Manchester United could best be described as stumbling into the final of the Europa League.

They were second best to Spanish side Celta Vigo in the second leg of their semi final, but somehow managed to find a way of making it to Stockholm.

Marouane Fellaini’s early goal proved decisive as the Reds spent most of the match in retreat and on the back foot as Celta enjoyed a remarkable 67-per-cent possession.

Celta’s undoing was the lack of a cutting edge as it took until the 85th minute before Facundo Roncaglia conjured an equaliser.

That set up a nerve-jangling finish as Celta went all out for a second goal that would have earned them a place in the final.

And in the sixth and final minute of stoppage time, Celta striker John Guidetti had the chance for glory but miss-kicked in front of goal.

The final whistle sounded seconds later as the players sank to the ground in disbelief and despair as they knew they were so close to reaching the final.

Unite manager Jose Mourinho spoke about the importance of the victory, while admitting his side was far from its best.

He said: “It means the opportunity to win a trophy, an opportunity to be back in the Champions League and an opportunity to end the season in the perfect way as it is the last match of the season.

“Manchester United had played other semi finals and finals of the Champions League so it was not the most important match in the history of the club and also for myself.

“I approached it as Celta would have done as it was the most important match in their history, and it was important we equalled that desire.

“When it was difficult and they were better than us and we were in trouble, that mentality, desire and togetherness made the boys fight to the end.”

Celta coach Ovidiu Hategan thought his side deserved victory over the two legs.

“Any defeat is bitter, but when we look back in the cold light of day, it confirmed what I though of my time. We had a fantastic season, but couldn’t turn the dream into a reality,” he said.

Sergio Romero kept his place in goal for the Europa League ahead of David De Gea as Mourinho kicked off with the side that started the first leg in Spain.

But there was eight changes from the side that began Sunday’s league game at Arsenal, Matteo Darmian, Ander Herrera and Henrikh Mkhitaryan being the only survivors.

Celta began on the front foot and had a clear-cut chance to take the lead in the fourth minute when Iago Aspas cut in from the right and saw his goalbound shot well tipped over by Romero.

But it was United who took the lead in the 17th minute with their first clear-cut chance of the night.

Mkhitaryan on the left set up Marcus Rashford whose deep cross to the far post was headed home by Fellaini from six yards. Keeper Sergio Alvarez got his hand to the ball but could only push it on to the inside of the post.

Celta remained a threat and Romero was called upon again to tip over a drive from Pablo Hernandez.

Pione Sisto had a couple of decent goal attempts, the first an audacious chip that Romero caught under the crossbar.

Daniel Wass headed narrowly wide from a Sisto fiercely driven cross as Celta were intent on going down fighting in the event of losing the semi final.

United had a chance to double their lead soon after the restart when Fellaini set up Mkhitaryan whose 22-yard drive was well turned over the keeper Alvarez.

Celta, with two third possession, continued to drive forward and all that was missing was a cutting edge as Sisto crossed from the left for Guidetti fired wide.

United’s main threat was Rashford who weaved his way through the Celta defence only for Alvarez to make an important block.

Fellaini had another chance to find the net with an excellent shot on the turn that brought a decent save from Alvarez low down at his near post.

Substitute Jozabed had a 25-yard drive that flashed narrowly wide as Celta refused to concede defeat.

Guidetti headed wide from eight yards from a Mallo cross as he ought to have hit the target.

United made their first change with 13 minutes left when Mkhitaryan was replaced by Carrick.

Celta scored their equaliser after 85 minutes when Claudio Beauvue crossed from the right and Roncaglia glanced home a header from 10 yards.

Wayne Rooney immediately replaced Jesse Lingard as United went for the club captain’s vast experience at this critical juncture of the game.

There was an ugly melee moments later when Roncaglia appeared to throw a punch at Pogba and in the aftermath Reds’ defender Eric Bailly was sent off for his part as was Roncaglia.

United thought they had sealed victory after 94 minutes when Ander Herrera found the net, but Pogba was adjudged to have fouled Mallo as he tried to reach Fellaini’s cross before it diverted to Herrera.

There would be one final twist, however, when Celta flung one last ball into the box and Claudio Beauvue squared the ball to Guidetti  who failed to control the pass as Celta’s last chance of glory disappeared.