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Hit: Edinson Cavani | Manchester United
Edinson Cavani has been in fantastic form over the last few weeks and continued his fine run with another sublime display against AS Roma. The Uruguayan popped up with the two most important goals of the night for Manchester United — the equaliser and the winner — and set up the opener for Fernandes.
His movement was too good for Roma's backline to handle, and he stretched their back three time and again during the game. Cavani had one more shot on target (four) than the entire Roma side combined against Manchester United (three), and created three chances for the Red Devils.
Just when it appeared that Manchester United were done for the night and will look to see out the game, Cavani delivered a gorgeous ball to cut through the Giallorossi's backline and found Greenwood, who scored their sixth goal. It was a vintage display from El Matador, who scored his tenth and eleventh career goals against Roma, which is more than any other Italian side he faced.
Flop: Chris Smalling | AS Roma
Chris Smalling's return to Old Trafford was one of the biggest talking points heading into the first leg of this semi-final tie. The 31-year-old spent ten years at Manchester United and played over 300 times for them, but his return to his matchup against his former club was anything but a memorable one for the Englishman.
Smalling had a miserable outing against Manchester United and should have done much better on a number of goals Roma conceded. He got beaten far too easily for the first, was out of position and slow to react for the second, was nowhere near the ball to concede the penalty that led to the fourth, and failed to deal with Fernandes' cross for the fifth.
Overall, he was one of the poorest players for Roma on the night, which says a lot as there aren't too many Giallorossiplayers who could leave Old Trafford with their head held high. A nightmare homecoming for the English defender.
Hit: Bruno Fernandes | Manchester United
Bruno Fernandes has had a fair few memorable displays for Manchester United since moving to Old Trafford in 2020, and his performance against Roma was right up there with the very best of them. The Portuguese superstar was simply magnificent and was arguably the best player on the pitch.
Fernandes opened the scoring with a lovely chip past Lopez in the first ten minutes and pulled the strings throughout the game. He set up Cavani for the equaliser on 48 minutes with a well-weighted pass and created Paul Pogba's goal after dispatching his penalty to make it 4-2.
Manchester United's midfield architect created six chances on the night (three big chances), ended the night with two goals, two assists, and one incredible all-round display. He was unplayable in every way, and is potentially set to lead Manchester United to their first final during Solskjaer's reign.
Also read: 5 Players who can replace Nemanja Matic at Manchester United
