Man U recovers from humiliation; beat Betis

Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes scored for Manchester United, who thrashed Real Betis 4-1 on Thursday and began the process of recovery from Liverpool’s humiliating thrashing on Sunday.

Those led by Erik ten Hag responded with dignity after the defeat at Anfield. And now they have the Europa League quarter-finals in sight after the first leg victory against the Spanish side.

Antony and Wout Weghorst also scored at Old Trafford, while Ayoze Pérez scored for the Betic side.

United could have taken an even bigger lead for next week’s second leg. Weghorst, Rashford and Brazilian Antony squandered other opportunities.

Ten Hag had given his players a chance to mend their ways after Sunday’s embarrassment. He made no changes to the roster that lost to Liverpool.

And the measure took effect. Rashford put the Red Devils ahead after just six minutes.

United could have extended the lead, but the game went to half-time at par. Pérez, a striker on loan from Leicester, defined low to beat David de Gea at 32.

Antony restored United’s lead seven minutes into the game with a shot curled into the top corner from outside the box.

Fernandes made it 3-1 with a header from a Luke Shaw corner in the 58th minute.

Perhaps the biggest celebration of the night came at 82, when Weghortz rocked the net after missing several earlier options.

FRUSTRATED GUNNERS

Premier League leaders Arsenal couldn’t beat Sporting Lisbon to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the Europa League Round of 16.

Hidemasa Morita’s 62nd-minute own goal saved Arsenal’s equalizer ahead of the second leg in London next week that will define the ticket to the quarter-finals.

Morita deflected Granit Xhaka’s long shot into his own net.

Arsenal, fired up from the comeback to beat Bournemouth 3-2 in agony last Saturday, seized the initiative early on and took the lead with William Saliba’s goal. The French defender headed a corner from Fabio Vieira to open the account in the 22nd.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has made six changes to the kit released on Saturday. Defender Jakub Kiwior made his debut to form the central duo with Saliba.

Sporting equalized in identical action by capitalizing on Arsenal’s fragility in their defensive block.

Gonçalo Inácio headed a corner 12 minutes after Saliba’s goal. It was Sporting’s first goal against Arsenal in their fifth European Cup game.

Ten minutes after the restart, Sporting turned the tide when Paulinho scored on a rebound.

“FIDEO”, THE NUMBER

Ángel Di María headed in the second half for Juventus to beat Freiburg 1-0.

35-year-old ‘Noodle’ has scored four goals in his last two Europa League games. On the previous date, the Argentinian had shone with a hat-trick against Nantes.

Juventus were missing midfielder Paul Pogba, sent off for “disciplinary reasons”, the Italian club reported.

OTHER RESULTS

Joan Jordán and Erick Lamela came on as substitutes and scored in the second half as six-time monarch Sevilla beat Fenerbahce 2-0.

Argentina’s Ezequiel Bullaude scored two minutes from time as Feyenoord salvaged a 1-1 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk, the last Ukrainian side remaining in European competition this season.

The meeting took place in Warsaw.

Also on Thursday, Roma took a decisive step towards the quarter-finals by beating Real Sociedad 2-0 at home. Stephan El Shaarawy and Marash Kumbulla scored the goals for the Italian team.

Bayer Leverkusen, led by Xabi Alonso, got the same income against Ferencváros. Kerem Demirbay and Edmond Tapsoba scored for the Germans against the visiting Hungarian.

Moreover, Sven Michel’s last-minute goal gave Union Berlin a 3-3 draw against Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium.