JAKARTA - Edinson Cavani led Manchester United to beat AS Roma with a 6-2 score in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England, Thursday local time (Friday, western Indonesia time).

The aging striker from Uruguay recorded two goals and two assists in United's victory followed by the contribution of two goals from Bruno Fernandes and one each from Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood, Antara reported according to the official UEFA website.

This result is clearly an important asset for United, who only need a draw when they travel to Roma's headquarters at the Olimpico for the second leg on Thursday, May 6 next week.

The game was barely two minutes old when Jordan Veretout grimaced in pain near the corner of Manchester United and Roma was forced to use their first substitution slot to bring in Gonzalo Villar.

In the midst of that situation, the Red Devils 'troops opened the scoring through Fernandes' clever shot completing a pass from Cavani to outwit goalkeeper Pau Lopez.

But that advantage did not last long, because six minutes later Roma was able to equalize through Lorenzo Pellegrini's penalty execution which goalkeeper David de Gea could not reach.

MU tried to restore their advantage in the 25th minute, unfortunately, Pogba's shot was pushed over by Lopez and a gag ball that was struck by Aaron Wan-Bissaka was cleared by Leonardo Spinazzola.

Ironically the save meant that Lopez had to be pulled off and replaced by Antonio Mirante in the 28th minute.

Roma's bad luck seemed to disappear when they were able to turn the lead over the hosts in the 33rd minute, after Pellegrini's bait was completed by Edin Dzeko to give the visitors a 2-1 lead over MU.

At the end of the first-half injury time, Roma's backline almost made a crucial blunder, lucky Mirante swiftly got out of his nest to thwart Cavani's chance to keep the visitors' advantage until halftime.

Three minutes into the second half, MU was able to make the position back to balance through Cavani's goal who finished Fernandes' pass with a strike that lodged into the corner of the far post area.

MU slowly took control of the game and in the 64th minute, Cavani was able to score his second goal through an easy effort to grab the ball vomited from Wan-Bissaka's shot which Mirante failed to save perfectly to make the hosts turn 3-2 lead.

The momentum of revival continued to be driven by MU and in the 71st minute, it was Fernandes' turn to score his second goal with a penalty after Cavani was brought down by former Red Devils defender Chris Smalling.

Four minutes later, MU further confirmed their lead to 5-2 when Pogba gore a corner from Fernandes' corner.

MU continues to maintain control of the game and in the 86th minute, Greenwood also listed his name on the scoreboard with a hard kick completing Cavani's pass.


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