Manchester united showed their character by comprehensively beating Real Betis 4-1 in the Europa League four days on from their humiliating defeat at Liverpool.
Sunday’s 7-0 collapse at their bitter rivals equalled the club’s record competitive defeat and left manager Erik ten Hag calling for a response from an unacceptable loss that he labelled “unprofessional”.
The United boss stuck with the same starting line-up that was annihilated at Anfield and the players repaid their manager’s faith in a 4-1 victory against Betis in the first leg of their last-16 tie. Marcus Rashford kept his cool to lash the hosts into an early lead as the snow fell at Old Trafford, only for Ayoze Perez to drill home a superb leveller against the run of play.
That moment gave hope to Manuel Pellegrini’s side and David De Gea was breathing a sigh of relief just before the break after his terrible pass led to a Perez effort deflecting off the post.
But United returned strongly from half-time and Antony curled home a lovely left-footed strike before skipper Bruno Fernandes, who faced intense scrutiny for his Liverpool display, headed home.
