Marcus Rashford was Manchester United’s hero with a dramatic extra-time winner that sealed a 3-2 aggregate victory over Anderlecht in the Europa League quarter-finals.
The 19-year-old followed up his starring role in the Premier League win over Chelsea with a well-taken strike early in the second period of extra time to give United a 2-1 win on the night at Old Trafford and a place in the last four.
An entertaining match had seen Henrikh Mkhitaryan follow up his goal in the first leg by netting his fifth goal of the competition after 10 minutes, only for Anderlecht captain Sofiane Hanni to hit back before the break.
United dominated in the second half, but Jesse Lingard, Rashford, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all squandered chances to score as the tie moved into extra time.
Victory came at a cost for Jose Mourinho, with Marcos Rojo and Ibrahimovic both taken off with injuries, but Rashford’s intervd+2ion ensure their hopes of continental silverware and a place in next season’s Champions League are still alive.
There was an early scare for United when Leander Dendoncker, Anderlecht’s scorer in the first leg, unleashed a dipping 30-yard strike that almost caught out Sergio Romero, only just clearing the crossbar.
But the hosts moved in front after Pogba’s impressive throughball had found Rashford to start a counterattack. At the second attempt, the England forward was able to square for Mkhitaryan, who took one touch and fired low past Ruben from 15 yards.
Ruben then had to make two saves in quick succession to keep Anderlecht in the tie, getting up well to save Pogba’s header before diving at full stretch to keep out an excellent curling effort from Lingard.
But United suffered a blow when Rojo was forced off on a stretcher with a knee problem to add to Mourinho’s defensive injury problems – Daley Blind coming on – and the visitors almost levelled when Frank Acheampong muscled his way into the box before being denied by Romero.
Anderlecht did strike back in the 32nd minute, Youri Tielemans’ 20-yard strike deflecting onto the bar and Hanni pouncing to beat Romero on the rebound from eight yards as an entertaining tie reached the break all square.