Manchester United stroll to victory and earn the chance to end semi-final hoodoo against Roma

• Manchester United have reached their 18^th semi-final in all European competition (inc. Fairs Cup) – only Liverpool (19) have appeared in more amongst English sides.
• Manchester United have won three consecutive knockout stage games without conceding in major European competition for the first time since April 2008.
• Granada have lost their last three matches in the Uefa Europa League, having lost just two of their first nine in the competition (W5 D2 L2).
• Since losing their first two home games in the Uefa Europa League back in the 2011-12 season, Manchester United haven’t lost any of their last 17 games at Old Trafford in the competition (W13 D4).
• Following Granada’s 0-2 defeat to Man Utd, Spanish sides are winless in their last six away games against English teams (D3 L3), failing to score in each of the last five matches.
• Man Utd have kept five clean sheets in six Uefa Europa League games since the turn of the year, more than any other side in 2021.
• Edinson Cavani (34y 60d), who has 12 goals in his last 11 starts in the Uefa Europa League, became the oldest Man Utd player to score in a knockout game in European competition since Zlatan Ibrahimovic vs St Etienne in February 2017 (35y 136d).
• Man Utd’s Paul Pogba has provided three assists in his last four games in all competitions, as many as in his previous 51 combined.

Is on its way and will appear at the top of this blog imminently. 

Granada were much better than the first leg but United were disciplined, gave us a 7/10 performance, rode their luck and defended their lead. They go through to a semi-final against AS Roma, first leg a fortnight today on April 29. A reunion with Chris Smalling and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. 

Seconds after De Gea makes a very good save from Herrera's towering  six-yard header, United abomb down the right, switch flanks to Telles with a  crossfield chain of passes. The left-back whips in the cross with his left, Up goes wee Mata and misses his header from eight-yards but Vallejo, the other side of him, anticipated that he would make a connection and could do nothing when it hit him instead and ricocheted past the keeper. 

Man Utd 2 Granada 0 (Vallejo og)

United break from the corner and Diallo goes down the middle at pace. Seems like Diaz trips him as he comes in from the side but the referee waves play on. 

A Barnes-Wallis long throw into the United box is dealt with by Telles on the third bounce by wellying it over the bar. 

Victor Diaz thunders a right-foot shot from 25 yards that sat up nicely and De Gea makes a good save, catching the stinging shot low to his right. It was a good save not in the sense of stopping a goal but in making a clean catch when it could so easily have been dropped. 

Granada corner on the right. Montoro takes and can't penetrate beyond the front post. 

Final Granada sub: Exit German, enter Nehuen.

And for United Brandon Williams replaces Wan-Bissaka, Amad Diallo comes on for Greenwood. 

United are managing the end of the game with clinical efficiency, passing the ball around at he back, into midfield, up the flanks and back again. 

As things currently stand United will play Roma in the semi-final (It's 1-1 at the Stadio Olympico). 

Telles spanks the free-kick into the wall but the referee blows for a foul by a United player even before the ball kisses the roof of the net following the deflection. 

Fred is in a heap when caught by Herrera, who was trying an overhead clearance 28 yards out.

Granada sub Diaz replaces Neva. United free-kick, Telles lines it up. 

Juan Mata replaces Bruno Fernandes and becomes the third captain of the night. 

Tuanzebe blocks Herrera's left-foot shot from a yard away as he closed him down on the 18-yard line and United break up the left, without a huge amount of urgency, patiently waiting for the mistake which comes when Montoro fouls Fernandes who is, reluctantly, heading off at last. 

Bruno Fernandes has some appetite. Like most elite Portuguese players, he's a 90-minute man and an enemy of rotation. 

Greenwood is now at centre-forward, Van de Beek behind him, Fernandes on the left and James on the right. 

Granada keep huffing and puffing but United are comfortably holding them at bay. German spins in the United box after Foulquier's free-kick from 10 yards inside the half is scudded into the box and two red shirts let it roll past. The Granada captain and centre-half pivots and scuffs a left-foot shot, with an unimpeded path to goal, wide of the right post. 

Yellow card for German after sliding in to block Bruno Fernandes' pass which would have opened up the Granada defence. He also clatters into the stand-in United captain as an added bonus and Fernandes thinks the sanction should be more draconian still. 

Cavani is heading off. James comes off the bench to replace him. 

Manchester United quick on the counter set up by Wan-Bissaka's crunching slide tackle. Greenwood dribbles forward and as he tries to line up a left-foot shot, it runs to Van de Beek instead and he shapes a right-foot shot from 20 yards inches wide of the left post. 

Luis Suarez, who is on for Soldado, gets down the inside-right channel into the United box and skelps a low shot aimed at the far corner but Tuanzebe was on him like a rash and blocked from close range. 

Cavani flashes a header wide off his shoulder when his great run off German across goal from the left was picked out by Bruno Fernandes' expert right-wing cross. 

De Gea runs out swiftly to boot the ball away as Molina darted after a throughball down the inside-left channel. Van de Beek tees up a shot for Greenwood which he spoonfeeds to Rui Silva, far too straight. 

Deep cross on the run from the right by Foulquier is headed tamely at the back post by Molina - he claims Wan-Bissaka handles it once he'd glanced it on but it hit the United right-back flush in the face. 

Quite start until Matic misplaces a simple pass and Granada pile into the counter until Van de Beek ends it with a foul on Montoro. 

Greenwood has gone to the left, Fernandes down the right and Van de Beek is playing centrally. 

Half-time subs: Van de Beek replaces Pogba. Puertas is on for Kenedy for Granada. 

The ties looks all sewn up after that early Cavani strike. Granada have been lively in midfield, feisty in the tackle and keen to place a flea in the referee's ear at any opportunity. 

Bruno Fernandes is out of sorts so far tonight and shanks an effort. Only the goal was a shot on target all half.  

Terrible crossfield pass from Wan-Bissaka that doesn't have the power to reach Telles. Kenedy picks it off, but doesn't attack the box with any urgency, instead making sure he worked it on to his left to shoot from 18 yards. He has a good case for a corner when he shoots but the ref awards a goal-kick instead. 

Big let-off.  

German jolts Cavani in the small of the back as they go up for a header 10 yards outside the United box. Pogba kicks the ball out so he can receive the magic sponge/spray/healing hands. 

Greenwood's nickname isn't, as one might expect, 'Mase' or 'Greenie' but 'Woody' going by the shouts of encouragement as he chased a lots cause up the right. 

Pogba is on the floor after he collided, knee-to-knee, with Kenedy. He's in pain but otherwise seems OK. 

Great cross from Matic from the left with that sweet left foot to pick out Bruno Fernandes  beyond the far post. He puts his foot through the volley. It required perfect technique to bury it and he can't quite manage it, given the spin on the ball and the way he had to let it run across his body to connect. 

Montoro wins the ball in centre midfield, passes it up to Molina who plays a diagonal from left to right for Soldado. The sub carries on his run,waiting for the return, but Soldado's reverse pass is rubbish and five yards too far in front of him. 

Gonalons' day is done. His left shoulder is giving him tremendous gyp. Molina, a 38-year-old former Betis centre-forward, replaces the defensive midfielder. He's Granada's record goalscorer. 

Vallejo, on loan from Real Madrid, catches Greenwood on the foot in his followthrough after the Granada centre-half had initially won the ball. 

Gonalons who made a fantastic sliding tackle on Fred a moment ago is now fouled by Greenwood and clutches his thigh after a mistake by Fred kiboshed a decent attacking move. 

Van de Beek has retaken his seat. Poor lad. 

A passage of patient probing from United but on the two occasions when they try to fashion an opportunity in the box, the final ball - a Cavani one-two with Pogba and a Telles cross for Bruno Fernades - isn't precise enough. 

Should Pogba be taken off in case he gets himself sent off, with Granada primed to be in the referee's ear for any transgression? Van de Beek is warming up. 

Granada take the free-kick from 30 yards and whip it from the right towards the penalty spot. Herrera gives Lindelof the split with an angled run and gets ahead to have a free diving header which he twists wide of goal. Should have scored. 

Pogba is livid to be penalised for a foul on Herrera, coming in from the side and, I think, winning the ball, seconds after he caught his ankle from behind. Soldado goes berserk, demanding a second yellow and a sending off for the United captain but goes in the book himself instead. 

Pogba is booked for fending off German with an arm after he beat Montoro and the Granada captain tried to stop his counterpart with armband from behind. He did catch him on the chin but German was trying to obstruct his run on goal with an empty 20 yards ahead of him in front of the box. 

Pogba hurts Gonalons by catching him on the top of the foot. No foul but United knock it out to allow him to be treated. 

Pogba gives the ball away cheaply to Machis 30 yards from goal, Soldado makes a clever run into the box but Machis, the Venezuela striker, picks the wrong option and United clear. 

Herrera in the box again causing problems when he takes it back to goal on the right of the six-yard box. Lindelof stays touch tight and doesn't let him turn, forcing the ball out for a corner, from which De Gea is fouled. 

Herrera has a couple of efforts, one from the left of the box with his head which shaves the right post and then, when Lindelof horses up his clearance from Foulquier's cross, driven over the bar from 20 yards. 

Left-foot volley with his leg coming round at 90 degrees, a proper sidewinder. He was set up by Pogba's deft backwards header from Telles ball and Cavani shinned the volley in from 12 yards into the right corner. 

Man Utd 1 Granada 0 (Cavani)

Slick counter from Manchester United plays the ball up to Bruno Fernandes in the centre-circle and he slips Cavani behind Granada's high line with a pas down the right. Greenwood bombs through the middle but Cavani fluffs the pass, knocking it too close to Rui Silva. 

Lindelof crosses halfway and feeds the ball to Matic. Pogba is wide on the left and passes inside to Bruno Fernandes who takes on the shot from 25 yards and spears it well wide. 

Tuanzebe is penalised for a foul on Soldado as they went up for a header, 15 yards from the United box. Easily defended but Kenedy brings it back up the right, dribbles into the box between Telles and Tuanzebe and tries a rabona cross that doesn't quite come off. 

Manchester United kick off, in their home kit. Granada in their away strip of black shirts, shorts and white socks. 

Handshakes are imminent ... as is the kick-off. 

We've got a good lead but 2-0, I've seen stranger things happen. We 're not going to take any chances. We just go out there with a disciplined performance, be good on the ball, make sure we dominate the ball like we did over there. Of course I wouldn't want to sit here after the game knowing we rested too many players. 

The players are desperate to go through and qualify for the semi-final and final. The team is getting better, we're getting used to each other, we now have more experience and have Bruno and Paul in good form playing together. 

Manchester United  De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Lindelof, Telles; Fred, Matic; Greenwood, Fernandes, Pogba; Cavani.
Substitutes Grant, Henderson, Fish, Williams, Diallo, James, Mata, Van de Beek, Elanga, Rashford, Shoretire.

Granada (4-2-3-1)  Rui Silva; Foulquier, Vallejo, German, Neva;  Montoro, Gonalons; Kenedy, Herrera, Machis; Soldado.
Substitutes  Aaron, Arnau, Nehuen, Suarez, Puertas, Victor Diaz, Molina, Isma Ruiz, Torrente.

Referee  Istvan Kovacs (Romania). 

And welcome to Manchester, erstwhile home of Granada, Sidney Bernstein's monument and gift to the North and British culture, which hosts the second leg of  Manchester United's quarter-final tie against Granada, which they begin with a 2-0 aggregate lead by virtue of goals from Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, from the spot, last week at Los Carmenes.

Should United go through, they will play either Ajax or Roma in what would be their third Europa League semi-final in five years. 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has spouted the usual platitudes about taking nothing for granted but, such was the gulf in class last week against a side currently eighth in La Liga, we're expecting multiple changes in the home side, three of which will be enforced.

Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire were all booked in Spain and will get their suspensions out of the way tonight, Daniel James and Marcus Rashford are doubts while Eric Bailly has Covid-19 and Anthony Martial is in a race against time to be fit for the last knockings of the season. Axel Tuanzebe, Alex Telles and Nemanja Matic  should all come in, as well as Donny van de Beek or Juan Mata if Rashford is unfit.

"It's never a positive thing to not have every player available but we've got players ready to deputise and come into the team of course," Solskjaer said.

"It was [a booking] amnesty after this quarter-final so we hoped to get them through, but there were some easy yellow cards that the ref handed out. We're ready to deal with that."

"We have to make sure that we go through. I always pick a team that I think will win a game and we will go into it wanting to win this.

"I know Granada will want to come and give it our all but we also want to improve our performances, build our momentum that we're on and have a good performance.

"There will be a few changes. Of course some of them are forced and some are maybe rotation." 

Granada have two players serving suspensions, Domingos Duarte and Yan Eteki, while Luis Milla and Neyder Lozano are injured.