Villarreal defeat Manchester United on penalties to win Europa League
May 27, 2021
Gdansk [Poland], May 27 : Villarreal defeated Manchester United on Wednesday (local time) to win their first major Europa League title.
This is the Spanish club's first major title in their history. Villarreal defeated United 11-10 in penalties to lift the Europa League title.
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea ended up missing the decisive penalty in the shootout and this gave Villarreal a famous victory in the final.
The normal football match saw a 1-1 draw being played and as a result, the match went into a penalty shootout. Gerard Moreno first gave the lead to Villarreal in the 29th minute.
No more goals were scored in the first half, and as a result, Villarreal went into halftime with a 1-0 lead. However, in the second half, United equalised through Edinson Cavani.
In the end, Villarreal ended up winning the match on penalty shootout and this has now extended Manchester United's four-year trophy drought.
In the shootout, first 21 penalties combined by both the teams were successfully converted, but as United goalkeeper, De Gea missed his spot-kick, Villarreal got the victory.
This is United's sixth loss in seven shootout and Unai Emery (Villarreal manager) won a record fourth Europa League crown.
Manchester United had finished the 2020-21 Premier League season at the second spot, only behind Manchester City.