Manchester United qualifies for Europa League quarter-finals

Manchester United has beaten LASK in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 encounter, 2-1, after coming from behind. As a result, the Red Devils have qualified for the last-eight on a 7-1 aggregate. Before Wednesday's game, the Premier League side already had a 5-0 lead over the Austrian side, courtesy of their away win in March.

While playing at Old Trafford, Manchester United had fallen behind after LASK skipper Philipp Wiesinger scored from an excellent shot in the 55th minute. At that moment, although LASK's chances of qualifying for the last-eight were slim, the visitors were hoping for a morale-boosting victory in Manchester. But the hosts didn't take long to fight back.

In the 57th minute, Juan Mata assisted Jesse Lingard to score the first goal for the home side. Later, Mata contributed again. Anthony Martial scored his 23rd season goal from 10 yards in the 88th minute after collecting a through ball from the 32-year old Spaniard.

Lingard has now scored in successive games for the first time since December 2018. Back then, he had scored back-to-back against Liverpool and Cardiff, first of which was Jose Mourinho's last match as the United coach and the next one was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first.

The Austrian side would be happy after displaying some impressive football during the first half. However, as the match advanced into the second half, LASK's skills started fading. The hosts eclipsed all the efforts that the visitors made on-field.

LASK started the match knowing that there was almost zero chance for them to win on aggregate, but still, they didn't restrain themselves from performing their best.

Meanwhile, sitting on a large first leg advantage, Solskjaer gave 18-year old defender Teden Mengi his debut.

At the end of the game, BBC quoted Solskjaer saying, "Some of these lads haven't played for a while and it showed. We won, we gave a debut to a young lad, it's been a good night. For me it was a good exercise, it's job done, minutes under the belt and on to Copenhagen. He (Mengi) is a leader, a centre-back, someone we believe in, he's strong, quick, good on the ball and I think we've got a decent player there."

As we speak, Manchester United has already secured their spot in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League. In the quarter-finals of the ongoing Europa League, the Red Devils are set to face Danish side FC Copenhagen in Cologne on August 10.

The final-eight onwards will happen in Germany, with the final due on August 21 in Cologne.