Manchester United will return to a European final in 2025, four years after being heartbreakingly beaten on penalties by Villarreal in the 2021 final.
Managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United’s failure to win the final sparked a chain of events that saw the Norwegian sacked by the following November.
Here, we have looked into where each Red Devil from that night in Gdansk is now.
GK: David de Gea
De Gea was central to the United loss, missing his penalty to gift Villarreal the win after all of United’s outfield players had scored theirs.
The Spaniard played for United for two more seasons after the European heartbreak, before essentially being pushed out by Erik ten Hag and his decision to sign Andre Onana.
He spent a year out of the game before signing for Fiorentina, where in his first season, he’s racked up more than 10 clean sheets, and is set to come back for a second campaign with the Italian club.
RB: Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Alex Telles, ‘120+3)
Wan-Bissaka’s appearances at United were never overly consistent, and he was allowed to move to West Ham ahead of the 2024-25 season.
In less than a full season there, the right-back has the same number of goals (two) as he did in his entire 190-game United career, and four assists.
Wan-Bissaka was named player of the year in his first West Ham season as a result of his good performances both in defence and going forward.
He was replaced by Alex Telles for Europa League final penalties, and the Brazilian is now back in his home country, playing for Botafogo after just over a year at Al-Nassr with Cristiano Ronaldo, following a loan from United to Sevilla.
CB: Victor Lindelof
Swedish centre-back Lindelof’s appearance numbers have slowly dropped over the past few seasons. On the strength of the other members of the centre-back corps, he’s possibly fifth choice at United currently, but still playing there for now.
His contract is coming to an end in the summer, though, and there are some big clubs said to be interested in landing him.
CB: Eric Bailly (Axel Tuanzebe, ‘116)
If you can’t beat them, join them. Indeed, Bailly is now playing for *checks notes* Villarreal. The centre-back’s United career was hampered by injuries, and that’s been the case at the clubs he’s represented since, too.
Only once since first leaving United in 2022 – with Marseille, Besiktas and now Villarreal – has he racked up more than 1000 minutes with a single club in the same campaign.
Tuanzebe, meanwhile, has had a varied career since being at United. Loans to Aston Villa, Napoli and Stoke were followed by a permanent move to Ipswich, where the defender was relegated from the Premier League.
LB: Luke Shaw
Still representing United, where he’s now spent more than 10 seasons, Shaw’s injuries have seen his appearances dry up. Since the start of 2023-24, the left-back has spent more than 500 days sidelined.
He has slowly made his way back into the United side towards the back end of 2024-25, with multiple starts on the trot in the Premier League, all coming at centre-back, with the demands of the left wing-back position perhaps now too much given his long layoffs.
CM: Paul Pogba (Dan James, ‘116)
At United, Pogba was perhaps the best player in the Premier League on his day.
But his career took a massive hit a year after re-joining Juventus from United – the club he had first joined after his time in the Old Trafford academy, and then left to return to Manchester in an £89million move.
The midfielder was handed a doping ban, which he served for 18 months, and Pogba has spent the few months since then trying to get back up to speed as he looks for a new club.
James has just returned to the Premier League with Leeds United, scoring 12 goals and assisting nine more as the Whites won the Championship title.
CM: Scott McTominay (Juan Mata, ‘120+3)
Try to find a more perfect example of a player United shouldn’t have let go and you’ll not be able to see past McTominay.
The Scottish midfielder is one game away from the Serie A title with Napoli, with everything in their hands in the final match, but Inter Milan breathing down their neck, one point below the league leaders.
If Napoli scoop the title, McTominay will have had a central role, with 11 goals and six assists in his debut Serie A campaign – better numbers than he ever put up for United, while playing in a more advanced role, with more minutes given to him.
Mata, now 37 years of age, is still playing in the top division of Australian football, with Western Sydney Wanderers.
That’s after one game with Japanese club Vissel Kobe, and a short spell with Galatasaray.
RM: Mason Greenwood (Fred, ‘100)
Greenwood has spent the 2024-25 campaign at Marseille, scoring 22 goals in all competitions.
Fred has racked up 79 appearances for Fenerbahce, scoring eight goals and assisting a further 16 – not dissimilar to his numbers at United, but in far fewer games.
He’s currently managed by Jose Mourinho in Turkey – but possibly not for too much longer.
CAM: Bruno Fernandes
United’s best player ever since he joined in 2020, there has been even more reliance on Fernandes in recent seasons.
The Red Devils have spent essentially all season struggling in the bottom half of the Premier League, yet Fernandes still has eight goals and 10 assists, within his tally of 19 goals and 19 assists in all competitions.
He’s also been told by manager Ruben Amorim amid speculation over his future that he’s not going anywhere.
Fair call, United might be a Championship side without the Portuguese star.
Fernandes is a Manchester United hero.
QUIZ: Can you name every club Bruno Fernandes has scored against for Man Utd?
LM: Marcus Rashford
Rashford had spent all 10 seasons of his senior career with United until this season. But Amorim made it pretty evident when he walked through the door at the back end of 2024 that he did not like the attacker.
As such, he went from fan favourite at Old Trafford to Aston Villa loanee in quick time. At Villa Park since January, Rashford has four goals and six assists in all competitions for the Midlands club.
Speculation on his future is rife, with a move to Barcelona being talked up, while Villa have the option to buy the United man for £40million.
ST: Edinson Cavani
Uruguay attacker Cavani has been back in South America for the past three years, playing for Boca Juniors.
When he moved there in 2023, Cavani returned to South American club football for the first time since 2007, when he left Uruguayan side Danubio to head to Europe.
At 38, the striker is still managing to have an impact in front of goal. In his final season in Europe, with Valencia, Cavani scored just seven goals in all competitions, but he’s had some better returns than that with Boca.
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