Manchester United land Celta Vigo in Europa League semi-finals

21 April 2017 01:24

Jose Mourinho's Manchester United will face Celta Vigo in the Europa League semi-finals.

England's final European representative were made to sweat by Anderlecht on Thursday night, with Marcus Rashford eventually settling a breathless quarter-final second leg 2-1 after extra-time, seeing the Reds through 3-2 on aggregate.

United stumbled a step closer to the Stockholm final and will have to up their game in the semi-finals after being drawn against Celta Vigo.

Mourinho's men have been drawn away first, playing in Spain on May 4 before welcoming Celta to Old Trafford on May 11.

Ajax face Lyon in the other semi-final as the final four clubs in the competition vie for a place in the May 24 showpiece at the Friends Arena.

United's opponents sit 10th in LaLiga and progressed from the quarter-finals after following up a 3-2 home win against Genk by drawing Thursday's second leg 1-1 in Belgium.

United have never faced Celta in UEFA competitions before and the Spanish side are through to a major European semi-final for the first time in their history.

Celta's top scorer Iago Aspas endured an underwhelming spell at Liverpool, while fellow attacker John Guidetti came through the ranks at Manchester City.

United academy graduate Giuseppe Rossi is also on Celta's books, but is out after suffering another major knee injury earlier this month.

The Galician side overcame Shakhtar Donetsk, Krasnodar and Genk in the knockout stages, having finished runners-up in Group G to fellow semi-finalists Ajax.

Celta representative Borja Oubina is now looking forward to a historic clash with United - a semi-final he believes they can win.

"We're very happy to be here, in the semi-finals," the former midfielder said, quoted by AS.

"We've never managed this before. Now, to compete to try and achieve the dream, which is to be in the final.

"This is still a football match and we'll try to win. The fact that Celta have less experience doesn't mean that we have less chance of getting through.

"I believe we have a chance of progressing and I'm sure that we'll fight and we'll have our opportunities."

Source: PA