OLE SAID AND DONE
Man Utd verdict: Solskjaer blows golden chance to end silverware drought and it’ll only get harder from here
WILL Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ever have a better chance than this?
A season-defining fixture, against an opposition made up of inferior individuals, with an opportunity to feed their extraordinary habit of securing comeback victories.
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When Edinson Cavani equalised early in the second half, it felt for all the world as if the momentum was with Manchester United - who had chalked up 12 victories this season having fallen behind.
Chuck in the fact that this was the 22nd anniversary of Solskjaer capping United’s most famous comeback of all in that Champions League Final against Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp, and a United victory felt inevitable.
Yet United blew it in a ridiculously long penalty shoot-out and have now suffered a fourth successive season without a trophy - two and a half of them under their Norwegian club legend.
After all of the other 21 players scored from the spot, David De Gea’s effort was saved and La Liga clubs have now prevailed in all of the last eight Anglo-Spanish European finals.
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And it is only likely to get more difficult for Solskjaer to win silverware.
Manchester City are the best team in the land and they strengthen every summer.
Liverpool will improve when they have central defenders, Chelsea will improve if they sign a goalscorer.
United still appear to be at least four players short of a team capable of winning the Premier League or the Champions League.
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They missed their captain Harry Maguire, Solskjaer appeared to mistrust his substitutes - not making a change until the 100th minute.
And none of their potent forward players could conjure a moment to break down Unai Emery’s pig-headed Villarreal team.
It is an outdated media-driven myth - especially among broadcasters - that the vast majority of English fans still want other English clubs to win in Europe.
In the real world, many would have been delighted to see United - one of the European Super League’s most venomous ‘snakes’ - slayed by the type of over-achieving smalltown club they had imagined themselves too big to play against.
The civil war between United’s fans and the ruling Glazer family will rage on. Solskjaer has handled that situation with tact and diplomacy so far but it is likely to be a wearing situation.
Still, this has been a season of limited progress for United - they led the Premier League at the halfway stage, they finished as runners-up and with an unbeaten away record.
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But you do not earn trophies for any of those feats.
And do not forget that United would not have been in the Europa League had they not royally capitulated in their Champions League group and been parachuted into UEFA’s ‘plate’ competition.
Still, their route to the final had not been an easy one - United defeated David Silva’s Real Sociedad, AC Milan and Roma, as Solskjaer finally won a semi-final at the fifth attempt.
As Paul Scholes stated in no uncertain terms before kick-off, United were up against a side who had finished seventh in a ‘weak’ La Liga.
But then there was the formidable record of Unai Emery - contesting his fifth Europa League Final in eight years, including a hat-trick of wins with Sevilla.
And Spanish clubs had won 10 of the previous 17 finals. In that time, the only Spanish defeat in this fixture came in an all-Spanish final.
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The 2,000 United fans who braved mountains of red tape and daily deep-throat Covid tests to be in Gdansk would have liked the look of United’s starting line-up.
Solskjaer sent out an attacking side, having often taken an overly-cautious approach in United’s biggest fixtures until now - see a spate of goalless draws against major Premier League rivals.
Yet United lacked spark and Villarreal were patient, robust and intelligent - policing their opponents with two sturdy walls of hi-vis patrolmen, then striking through a set-piece.
Daniel Parejo curled in a free-kick, and goal machine Gerard Moreno peeled away from Luke Shaw and got in between Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly to poke home.
There were flashes from Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood late in the first half but they had barely threatened before the break.
United staged a record ten Premier League comeback victories this season, so the belief would always have remained.
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They began the second period with greater intent and Cavani poached an equaliser less than ten minutes in - his sixth in five Europa League games.
Ferguson would occasionally call in a veteran gunslinger to help United to glory - Henrik Larsson, Laurent Blanc, Edwin van der Sar - and Cavani is of that grand tradition.
It is certainly a major boost for next season that the Uruguayan has committed to United for next season. United’s youngsters have benefited from his wisdom and his workaholism.
Cavani is certainly an ‘influencer’, even if his misuse of social media got him into strife earlier this season.
Rashford missed a glorious chance and lashed another wide, before Pogba skied a decent headed opportunity.
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Yet Pau Torres might have settled it in injury-time only to clear the top corner - and Emery’s men were the more dangerous side during extra-time.
Then that remarkable shoot-out - De Gea failing to save any of 11 spot-kicks and ending up as the fall guy himself.
Paul Scholes says some Man Utd players don’t care after seing his team lose Europa League final
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