Manchester United’s hopes of playing Champions League football next season are still alive.
With Arsenal all but ending their hopes of finishing in the top four at the weekend, United sealed a spot in the Europa League final on Thursday night as they beat Celta Vigo 2-1 on aggregate.
After controlling the game in Spain a week earlier, this was a tense evening. Marouane Fellaini’s first half goal settled some of the nerves, only for Celta to come back into the game. They equalised through Facundo Roncaglia to set up a tense finish, and were guilty of squandering a couple of decent chances – most notably that of former Manchester City forward John Guidetti, who miscued what seemed like a straightforward chance in the game’s final seconds.
United survived, and will now face Ajax in the final later this month after the Dutch club on to a 4-1 first leg lead over Lyon – winning 5-4 on aggregate after a tense finish in France.
Running the rule over both games on ITV’s Europa League highlights show was former United captain, Roy Keane, a man that can never be accused of showing any bias towards his old club.
After briefly praising them for reaching the final, Keane delivered a blunt assessment of the performance levels United have shown throughout the tournament and season as a whole.
“Their level of performance tonight and letting a team like Celta Vigo dictate the game and keeping themselves in the game into the final minute, it’s not a good reflection on United,” he began.
“It goes to show where they’ve been this season with all the draws they’ve had, almost having that defensive mindset all night.
“A team like Man United at home to Celta Vigo – go and get the job done, win two or three nil. They were there for the taking but they just couldn’t get to that level which they’ve not done for most of the season.”
Roy Keane talks about @ManUtd's performance levels pic.twitter.com/8wq8kjTP4t
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) May 11, 2017
