Manchester United secured third place and Champions League soccer with a 2-2 draw towards rivals Manchester Metropolis at Outdated Trafford regardless of seeing Aoife Mannion despatched off within the second half.
United solely needed to keep away from defeat to make sure their spot amongst Europe’s elite subsequent season however gave themselves a mountain to climb when Laia Aleixandri and Rebecca Knaak fired Metropolis right into a two-goal lead.
The previous danced into the penalty space and curled house the opener, after United noticed a purpose disallowed for Elisabeth Terland earlier within the sport, earlier than Knaak powered her header house from a nook to double the benefit.
Grace Clinton then drifted in on the again submit to drag the hosts again into the fixture, marking a frantic finish to the second half, which noticed three targets scored within the house of seven minutes.
A tamer second half was then sparked into life when substitute Melvine Malard scored the decisive purpose within the fixture however the celebrations had been lower brief when Mannion was proven her second yellow card of the afternoon, lower than one minute after her facet drew stage.
Nevertheless, regardless of being decreased to 10 gamers for the ultimate 20 minutes, United held on to safe the draw and break the hearts of their rivals within the course of.
Man Metropolis fall brief in race for WCL
Sky Sports activities’ Patrick Rowe:
An exhilarating sport at Outdated Trafford however Man Metropolis shall be disillusioned that they let this one slip.
With a two-goal lead simply earlier than the break, they appeared to be accountable for this one. Nevertheless, Clinton’s effort ignited the comeback for United and Malard then made the distinction off the bench.
Metropolis pushed to re-take the lead however in the end did not make their benefit depend on the pitch when Mannion was despatched off.
With a lot of their star gamers watching on from the stands as a consequence of harm, and Leila Ouahabi doubtless becoming a member of them after being pressured off, it proved to be only one sport too many for Nick Cushing’s facet.