PARIS: Teenager Mason Greenwood scored as Manchester United cruised into the Europa League last 32 with a 3-0 win over Partizan Belgrade at Old Trafford on Thursday, while Celtic stunned Lazio with a last-gasp goal in Rome to progress.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United knew that a third victory in four Group L games would be enough to send them through.
The 18-year-old Greenwood broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute with a cool finish to score his third goal of the season and second in this competition.
Anthony Martial doubled the advantage after the half-hour mark with a brilliant individual goal, before Marcus Rashford lashed home the third four minutes after the interval.
The comfortable victory saw United bounce back after a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth last weekend had ended a three-game winning run.
“I think it was a good performance but there are things we can improve on,” Rashford told BT Sport. “We managed to score three goals but it could have been a lot more.” AZ Alkmaar thrashed Astana 5-0 in Kazakhstan to keep control of the race for second place in Group L behind United, eliminating their hosts and moving four points clear of Partizan.
Olivier Ntcham scored a dramatic injury-time winner to grab Celtic a 2-1 victory at Lazio.
Neil Lennon’s outfit remain top of Group E with two games remaining, seven points clear of third-placed Lazio after their second straight win over the Romans.
“It’s great to have qualified with two games to spare,” Celtic manager Lennon told uefa.com.
“It’s too early to say how far we can go in this competition but we can be a difficult opponent for anyone.”
Ciro Immobile volleyed the hosts into a seventh-minute lead, but James Forrest drew Celtic level before half-time. – AFP
