Marcus Rashford’s brilliant finish and a Bruno Fernandes penalty handed Manchester United a 2-0 victory over Granada, putting them firmly in charge of their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Rashford latched onto a long ball from Victor Lindelof in the first half, the striker injecting one bit of quality into a frantic contest at Los Carmenes before Fernandes made it two in the 90th minute after being elbowed by Yan Eteki.
The result gives United a commanding lead heading into the second leg at Old Trafford, where they should finish the job and book their place in the semi-final to face either Ajax or Roma.
Rashford has now scored eight of United’s 23 goals in this competition.
Granada celebrated their 90-year and arguably have never played a bigger fixture, a club that has never won a major trophy against one that has claimed 20 Premier League titles and three European Cups.
This is something of a fairytale for the Spanish club that finished 10th in the second division only three years ago before Diego Martinez, arguably La Liga’s brightest up and coming coach, engineered promotion and then qualification for Europe.
Six players in their starting line-up played for Martinez in the second tier and with Los Carmenes empty, Granada even sent all their season ticket holders a personalized ticket as a souvenir to mark the occasion.
