Marcus Rashford's stunning free-kick 23 minutes from time put Manchester United on the brink of reaching the Europa League final with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Celta Vigo on Thursday. Celta goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez kept the Spaniards in the tie before half-time with a string of saves to deny Rashford, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jese Lingard. However, he was wrong-footed by Rashford's free-kick as United took a giant step towards reaching the final in Stockholm on May 24.

And United manager Jose Mourinho hailed his wonder kid who has stepped up in the absence of top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic due to cruciate ligament damage. Rashford's 11th goal of the season was just reward for United's superiority as they close in on not just the prestige of winning the Europa League for the first time, but also the prize of guaranteed Champions League football next season it would bring.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017