Villarreal CF won the Europa League tournament after defeating Manchester United in the final match on Thursday, May 27. The match was played at thePolsat Plus Arena Gdańsk stadium in Poland.The two sides had scored one goal each, even after extra time was allotted to them. The winner had to be decided through a shootout, which Villarreal won by 11-10.
One has to give credit to Geronimo Rulli, winning team’s goalkeeper for his composure during the long penalty shootout.David de Gea, Manchester United’s goalkeeper’s performance had been nothing less than disappointing in the shootout as he was unable to stop any of the 11 spot-kicks.
According to reports, had de Gea stuck to his notes, things would have turned out differently. As per the picture of the hand written note accessed by Angelo Mangiante, a SkySport journalist, if the goalkeeper would have stuck to the predictions of his coaches, the match result would have been different. The main issue of the team was that the goalkeeper deviated from the note.
However, it must be mentioned that only three out of 10 Villarreal players shot as predicted in the notes. This note was given to de Gea right before the penalty shootout began. He followed the notes for first three kicks, but that prediction was wrong, so the other side managed to scored the goals. However, even after the predictions turned right, the goalkeeper did not follow the notes.
Manchester United have been without a trophy since their Europa League victory in 2017.
Meanwhile, this was the first European final that was played in front of a crowd in two years. Ever since the coronavirus pandemic has started, themost sports events have been played in empty stadiums.
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