Victor Nilsson Lindelöf hit a beautiful long ball across the field that reached Marcus Rashford at the other end, the Englishman picked down the ball and poked in the lead goal in the 31st minute.
The national team defender also contributed to a zero backlog for United.
It was a chance-poor event in the second half. Granada did not have the tools to get a hole in United – and the Manchester team in turn seemed quite pleased with the result.
But in the 90th minute United were awarded a penalty, and Bruno Fernandes determined – with difficulty – the final score to 2-0.
– 2-0 is a very good result. We knew how difficult it would be to come to Spain, we had to play well to get a result, says United’s coach Ole Gunnar Solskjær to BT Sport.
The mistakes would cost Ajax expensive when they fell at home with 1-2 against Roma.
But it started well for them at Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam.
A weak home pass by Amadou Diawara against the waiting midfielder Gianluca Mancini gave Davy Klaasen the opportunity to pick up the ball in a dangerous position. The Dutch national team player drove the ball into the penalty area, passed Dusan Tadic sideways, got the ball back on a strike and was able to put 1-0 in an almost empty goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Tadic himself had the opportunity to extend the lead on penalties, but Spanish goalkeeper Pau Lopez stood in the way.
A miss in the offensive direction, followed by a miss in the defensive direction four minutes later.
Lorenzo Pellegrini struck a free kick in a dangerous position straight to the deputy goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen, but the 21-year-old got no grip on the ball and sabotaged it into his own net.
And in the 87th minute, the winning goal for Romlaget came when the brass Ibañez thundered in a beautiful volley shot after a corner.
– It was a tough match, but we fought on and were strong out there, and in the end I was able to score the goal that gave us the victory, says the match winner according to Roma’s website.
– I have to thank Pau (Lopez) for the penalty save – and then God for us winning the match.
It seemed to be a narrow victory for Arsenal at home against Slavia Prague – but then came the blow in the last minute of the match.
A relegated Ondrej Kolar was back in the Slavia goal after breaking his nose and getting a crack in the skull in the quarter-final against Glasgow Rangers – and he held the zero for 86 minutes.
Then Arsenal’s substitute stepped forward.
Attacking star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stole the ball from Slavia Prague defender and found Nicolas Pépé in deep. The Ivorian finished with an annoying chip past Kolar.
Victory secured? Not at all.
In the last minute of the match, the Czechs got a corner, which was spliced further towards the far post and there the defender Tomas Holes appeared and buttoned the equalizer.
– We played two or three passes we should not have done and put ourselves under pressure and released to the corner. They moved a lot of people and that can happen. It changes the feeling after the match, says Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta to BT Sport.
Slavia Prague has convinced in the Europa League this season and knocked out Leicester and Rangers in the playoffs. Now they have given themselves a good starting position for the return match at home.
In the fourth match, Villarreal won away with 1-0 against Dinamo Zagreb after a penalty goal by Gerard Moreno.
The return matches will be played next week.
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