Manchester United have one foot in the quarter-finals of the Europa League after a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Real Betis, with Erik ten Hag’s men providing the perfect response to last weekend’s disappointing defeat at Anfield.
Marcus Rashford set the tone after just six minutes when his thunderous strike gave the Reds the lead and Real Betis’ equaliser, coming through Ayoze Perez at the end of the first half, would prove to be just a hiccup.
United were on the front foot immediately in the second half and Antony’s beautiful curler reclaimed the lead before Bruno Fernandes capped a brilliant performance with a perfect header.
From then, it was cruise control for the Old Trafford side as Wout Weghorst enjoyed one of his proudest moments so far by opening his account at the Theatre of Dreams.
The win will allow Ten Hag the freedom to rest some players for next week’s return leg but hopefully, United do not invite Betis in with complacency next week.
Man United Player Ratings
David de Gea – 5
Could do nothing about the goal but the number of times he put United in danger with his poor distribution was alarming.
Diogo Dalot – 5
A poor showing from the full-back. 2023 isn’t turning out to be quite as good as the first half of the season.
Raphael Varane – 8
Solid as ever.
Lisandro Martinez – 8
Back to his assured self and that’s a blessing for United.
Luke Shaw – 8
The assists keep coming. He needed that performance after Anfield.
Casemiro – 8
Named as an injury doubt ahead of the game but his importance to the side was underlined again.
Fred – 7
Had a couple of opportunities to extend his remarkable goalscoring form but didn’t fall right for him.
Bruno Fernandes – 10
Pretty much a flawless performance. Involved in all goals – the perfect response.
Antony – 8
The games in Europe seem to be where he thrives most and hopefully, they can act as a springboard for success going forward.
Marcus Rashford – 7
Scored his 26th goal of the season – at this rate, he will be hitting the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career very soon.
Wout Weghorst – 9
No one deserved a goal as much as he did today. As ever, he was tireless in his pressing and his dedication cannot be questioned. It was starting to look like another one of those nights for the Dutchman but finally, he scored his first goal at Old Trafford and the celebrations were heartwarming. Pure relief.
I stand with weghorst. He has spirit of the team
So, the so-called cart horse scores, and receives a 9 out of 10 rating. Shows how much some ‘fans’ know, does it not?