3-1 victory

By Chris
May 21 2016

The 19 goals never came, but three did. Manchester United secured safe passage to the Europa League group stages with a comfortable 3-1 victory over AFC Bournemouth, grabbing a fifth-place finish in the Premier League.

Marcus Rashford boosted his chances of a spot in England's final Euro 2016 with an impressive display and a fine finish, with Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young also on the scoresheet for the Red Devils.

United, however, fell just short of finding a fiftieth league goal of the season - and David de Gea was denied a clean sheet, and a share of the division's golden gloves, in the process; as Chris Smalling drilled into his own net.

A largely drab first-half lit ip in the closing moments as Wayne Rooney completed an impressive United attacking move, before a stunning low finish from Rashford and a Young finish did the damage.

Further to the weekend’s abandonment amid a bomb scare, this rearranged contest had an unusual atmosphere about it, with focus firmly on Saturday’s FA Cup final. Pride, prize money and the Europa League group stages, however, were all on the table – and United will now have to negotiate

The announced attendance of 74,363 highlights the farcical nature of crowd declarations. Though that may refer to tickets sold for the fixture, in reality, there appeared many thousand less people in a stadium, and an on-the-night crowd figure would paint a far more realistic picture of this unusual Premier League contest.

Roll on Wembley – and the FA Cup Final. She wore, she wore, she wore a scarlet ribbon...

Full Time – Manchester United 3-0 AFC Bournemouth
Attendance - 74,363 (hmm…)