Europa League Final: Villarreal Beats Man United 11-10

JAKARTA - Villarreal won the 2020/21 Europa League after beating Manchester United on penalties that ended 11-10 in the final at the Miejski Stadium in Gdansk, Poland, Wednesday local time (Thursday WIB).

The winner had to be determined on penalties after Villarreal's advantage over Gerard Moreno was eliminated by MU through Edinson Cavani's goal and the score was 1–1 until the break of normal time and 2x15 minutes of extra time.

Goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli became Villarreal's hero in the penalty shootout after he had done his job well as the 11th executioner then staged the execution of MU goalkeeper David de Gea who became the Red Devils' all-rounder.

It was the First Europa League trophy as well as Villarreal's first prestigious competition, having previously won only the Intertoto Cup minor tournament in 2003 and 2004.

Unai Emery also established his status as a Europa League specialist through a record of four champions, having led Sevilla to three consecutive seasons in 2013/14 to 2015/16, surpassing Giovanni Trapattoni's achievements.

With this victory, Villarreal is entitled to appear in the Champions League next season through the path of winning the Europa League. Uefa's official website reports.

Solskjaer decided not to drop his captain, Harry Maguire, who has not recovered properly from an ankle ligament injury so only sat on the bench.

From the start, MU controlled the ball, but Maguire's absence affected their defense which was neglectful to coordinate as Villarreal stole the lead in the 29th minute through Moreno's goal.

MU failed to implement an offside trap and Moreno was able to escape from control to intercept Dani Parejo's measured cross and trick goalkeeper David de Gea.

Despite continuing to control the ball up to almost 68 percent throughout the first half, MU's attack was relatively blunt except for a minor incident that almost resulted in an own goal by Villarreal captain Raul Albiol when blocking Mason Greenwood's pull pass, lucky the ball could have been secured by goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.

MU's defensive line again looked alarming early in the second half, fortunately, Carlos Bacca failed to kick the ball when he got a chance at the mouth of the goal in the 48th minute.

The Red Devils' hard work finally paid off in the 55th minute when Cavani equalized with a wild ball inside the Villarreal penalty box after a corner.

Referee Clement Turpin briefly consulted the VAR for offside before confirming the goal which made Cavani the third player to score in the final of European competition after Gary McAllister (39) for Liverpool in 2000/01 UEFA Cup final and Didier Drogba (34) for Chelsea in the 2011/12 Champions League final.

Since that goal, MU continued their dominance but failed to create an additional goal, otherwise, Villarreal barely made any meaningful threats until normal time ended 1–1 and the match continued into extra time 2x15 minutes.

The flow of the match changed slightly in extra time, MU lowered the tempo and Villarreal controlled the ball more, but the score was 1-1 unchanged until the first 15 minutes were up.

In the 113th minute Scott McTominay was lying down after a clash with Alberto Moreno and Villarreal continued their attack which ended with Moreno's cross hitting Fred's arm inside the MU penalty box, but there was no penalty award after the VAR review.

After 2x15 minutes of extra time ended without a change, a penalty shootout was held in which the first 10 executioners of both teams did their job well until their goalkeeper had to be tasked with kicking the ball.

Rulli successfully blasted the ball into the net to score The Yellow Submarine's 11th penalty, before he staged De Gea's penalty to carve Villarreal's name into the 2020/21 Europa League trophy.