Odion Ighalo scored his first goal for Manchester United as they cruised into the Europa League last 16 at the expense of Club Bruges with one of their best performances of the season.
Bruno Fernandes scored his second United penalty in a week after Simon Deli was sent off for a ludicrous handball to block Daniel James’ shot.
The Portuguese, who was at the centre of everything, had a hand in the second as he lifted a pass over the top to Juan Mata, who squared for full debutant Ighalo to tap in from six yards.
And Scott McTominay, making his first start following an injury, side-footed in a third to wrap the tie up before half-time.
Fred scored his first two goals of the season in the final 10 minutes as United got the big scoreline their performance deserved.
Club Bruges brought thousands of noisy fans to Old Trafford to help with a good atmosphere – but their players could not match their efforts and created nothing of note.
The draw for the last 16 takes place on Friday at 12:00 GMT – with United able to face any of the other teams left, including Wolves and Rangers.
Can United go all the way?
The fans sang manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s name as United blew Bruges away.
The convincing victory will get supporters wondering whether they can win the trophy they lifted in 2017 – and the Champions League place that comes with it.
They are only three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea but this does give them a fallback plan.
A European trophy for Solskjaer to add to his Norwegian titles with Molde would be welcome too.
Based on this performance against a smaller team, and some of United’s showings against the big boys under Solskjaer, there is no reason for them to fear the likes of Inter Milan, Roma, Sevilla or Bayer Leverkusen.
Source: BBC
