Manchester United it is fair to say laboured to victory last night as they progressed to the Semi Finals of the Europa League
It was a night of attrition as both Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic went off injured
Both injuries look like they could see prolonged periods of absence
Have we perhaps seen the last of Ibrahimovic at Old Trafford
Jose Mourinho’s men got off to the perfect start thanks to Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s opener after just 10 minutes and from there on in it looked as if they were going to be on their way to a routine victory
But with Rojo going off injured it meant the back for was now unsettled, with Luke Shaw coming on as his replacement and Daley Blind coming into the middle alongside Eric Bailly
And it was Blind and Shaw who were arguably at fault for Anderlecht’s equaliser before halftime
It was a catalogue of errors to be fair
Blind’s clearance was poor, Shaw was playing everyone else Offside. Anderlecht hit the woodwork and had two attempts at a rebound before Sofiane Hanni scrambled home an equaliser
The tie was now dead level with extra time and penalties looking a real prospect
That said United had plenty of chances to finish the game off in 90 minutes
Marcus Rashford nearly took full advantage of poor defending from Anderlecht’s Dennis Appiah only to go the long way round their goalkeeper Mario Martinez and see the danger promptly dealt with
Credit has to go to Appiah for tracking back so quickly after making an absolute mess of what should have been a simple clearance
It was a night to forget for Zlatan Ibrahimovic as not only did he leave the field injured but he also missed countless second half chances to wrap the game up for the home side
A night to forget for the mercurial Swede
The chance he missed in the final minute would be the most costly as he seemingly hyper-extended his knee and clutched the ground in agony
He would be play no further part in the game as Anthony Martial came on to play in the additional part of the game
With penalties looming large it was down to Rashford to be the saviour
A lofted ball into the box was knocked down by Maroune Fellaini and the England youngster managed to get the ball out of his feet and fire the ball past Martinez to all but secure their path to the Semi Finals
Anderlecht had nothing left to offer and were playing for penalties before the 90 minutes were up
Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
