Man United cruise past Betis to Europa League quarterfinals

SEVILLE, Spain: Manchester United cruised into the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday after a 1-0 victory at Real Betis in the second leg of their round-of-16 encounter. Marcus Rashford produced a clinical finish in the 56th minute, finding the bottom corner of the net with a low drive from outside the area to help United advance on a 5-1 aggregate score in the second-tier European competition. Rashford’s 27th goal of the season came after the striker wasted several decent chances to put the visitors ahead at the Benito Villamarin stadium in Seville.

“Betis are a really good team, we saw that against Real Madrid and Barcelona, but we beat them twice, so I think we performed really well,” manager Erik ten Hag told BT Sport. “Second half, we were much better on the ball, keeping it in their half and then you create chances.” United won 4-1 in the first leg at Old Trafford last week. Following a 0-0 draw against Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday, Ten Hag made four changes in his starting lineup with right winger Facundo Pellistri getting his first start for the club.

United withstood Betis’ early pressure with Real’s 41-year-old captain Joaquín’s long-distance effort hitting the post 11 minutes into the game. United won the Europa League in 2017. FEYENOORD’S ROUT Feyenoord routed Shakhtar Donetsk 7-1 in Rotterdam to advance 8-2 on aggregate.

Shakhtar was the last Ukrainian team in the European competitions. The teams drew 1-1 in the first leg played in Poland due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Orkun Kökçü scored twice, the second one from the spot, in the first half and Oussama Idrissi struck twice in the second to lead the rout.