‘Outrageous’ – Real Sociedad and Mikel Oyarzabal fume at referee after Manchester United match

Manchester United secured a berth in the Europa League quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Thursday.

The first leg in Spain ended in a 1-1 draw after Mikel Oyarzabal cancelled Joshua Zirkzee’s opener. In the return leg at Old Trafford, the Real Sociedad captain gave the visitors the lead after converting from the spot in the 10th minute.

Bruno Fernandes also scored from the spot in the 16th minute to euqlise for Manchester United. Referee Benoît Bastien awarded the second penalty to the Red Devils in the 50th minute, which was again converted by the Portugal international.

Fernandes completed his hat-trick in the 87th minute before Diogo Dalot got his name on the scoresheet late in the game. Real Sociedad were a man short in the second half after Jon Aramburu was sent off in the 63rd minute.

The Spanish club, via their official website, are critical of the match official, and titled their report with ‘Outrageous’.

Real Sociedad claim they were knocked out of the Europa League because of Bastien’s ‘absolutely disgraceful’ decisions that ‘consistently favoured United’.

To describe the two penalties that Fernandes converted, La Real state: ‘An unfounded penalty and a questionable red card forced Real to accept defeat, despite their great effort.

‘At the beginning of the second half, the French referee disgracefully awarded a completely non-existent penalty. It is shameful that such a decision is made in Europe.’

Oyarzabal insists Benoît Bastien’s decisions influenced the outcome of the match. Mundo Deportivo have relayed his comments.

“It was a defeat largely influenced by the three penalties that were awarded against us. For me, none of them were actually penalties, although I haven’t seen them replayed, but I think we need a bit more,” he said.

“And with the sending-off, which I haven’t seen either, but I didn’t get the same feeling about it in person. With all that, it makes it much harder to win a game; everything depends on that.

“I don’t know what he called [La Real’s penalty]. I was sure he kicked me. I don’t know if it was after or before the clearance, I don’t know if it’s clear or not, but the United defender hit me, and I never hit him.

“Maybe it wasn’t his best day. We could have done better in some aspects, but everything is determined by those decisions.”

Manchester United will face Lyon in the last eight of the Europa League.