Manchester United defeated Spanish club Granada 2-0 in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie in Spain on Thursday, while Arsenal conceded a stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Czech champions Slavia Prague.
Marcus Rashford raced on to a long ball sprayed upfield by Victor Lindelof to fire United in front at Los Carmenes on 31 minutes against a team enjoying a brilliant debut European campaign.
Bruno Fernandes converted a late penalty after he was caught off the ball by Yan Eteki, with the Portuguese midfielder’s spot-kick squirming agonisingly through the hands of Rui Silva.
However, Solskjaer will be without the suspended trio of captain Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay for the second leg at Old Trafford next week.
At Emirates, Arsenal’s poor league form under Mikel Arteta has left the Gunners with the Europa League as their only hope of silverware this year, but the 2019 runners-up were denied victory at the Emirates following a 94th-minute header by Tomas Holes.
Nicolas Pepe had come off the bench to give Arsenal the lead four minutes from time, only for Holes to nod in at a corner and extend Slavia’s unbeaten run to 22 games, having already knocked out Leicester City and Rangers.