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Villarreal beat United in epic shootout to win Europa League final

SMA NEWS – Gdansk

Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli scored the decisive spot-kick and saved counterpart David de Gea’s attempt as they claimed their first European title by beating Manchester United 11-10 on penalties in the Europa League final on Wednesday.

In the first European final to be played in front of a crowd in two years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Villarreal survived a tough second half to secure a 1-1 draw after extra time before going on to edge a tense shootout.

The win gave Villarreal coach Unai Emery a record fourth title in the competition and left United without a trophy since their Europa League triumph in 2017.

Gerard Moreno stretched to reach Dani Parejo’s free kick and steered the ball past De Gea to open the scoring in the 29th minute, only for United to level when Edinson Cavani poked the ball home after collecting Marcus Rashford’s deflected shot on 55 minutes.

After no goals were scored in extra time, all outfield players scored their penalties and Rulli coolly beat De Gea before saving the United keeper’s spotkick.

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