Manchester United has finally reached a major final under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Not that he was in the mood for celebrating on Thursday.

An inspired goalkeeping performance by David de Gea ensured United was only beaten 3-2 by Roma in a wild second leg of the Europa League semifinals, allowing the English team to complete an 8-5 victory on aggregate.

It ended a run of four losses in the semifinals of major tournaments in the last 18 months for Solskjaer, who is under pressure to win United’s first trophy since 2017. That came in the Europa League, when Jose Mourinho was manager.

Yet Solskjaer was critical of his team for giving Roma so many chances at the Stadio Olimpico to turn around a semifinal that looked over after United scored five second-half goals to win the first leg 6-2 last week.

“We played one very good half at Old Trafford that got us through,” he said. “The second half today was disappointing. Very, very poor.”

Villarreal will be United’s opponent in the May 26 final in the Polish city of Gdansk after beating Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate in the other semifinal. The second leg finished 0-0 on Thursday.

Highlights:

Roma created enough clear-cut opportunities to pull off what would have been another remarkable comeback, three years ago after it recovered from 4-1 down against Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals, winning the second leg 3-0 at the Olimpico to advance.

Goals by Edin Dzeko and Bryan Cristante, in the 57th and 60th minute, briefly put Roma 2-1 ahead and that was the least the Italian team deserved after regularly breaching United’s defense. The visitors were thankful for a slew of saves by De Gea in both halves, ensuring Nicola Zalewski’s deflected 83rd-minute winner on the 19-year-old’s debut proved only a consolation for Roma.

“It was always going to be one of those games that was going to be open,” Solskjaer said. “It could easily have been 6-6. A strange game of football.

“Luckily we have one of the best goalkeepers in the world in nets,” he added about De Gea, who has fallen behind Dean Henderson in United’s pecking order in recent weeks.

Roma couldn’t keep United at bay at the other end as Edinson Cavani showed his prowess as a finisher, opening the scoring in the 39th minute by taking a touch from Fred’s pass and smashing in a shot from just outside the area.

The 34-year-old Uruguayan’s second goal, a header from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 68th, made it 2-2 and came as a relief for United because Roma was threatening to score at will.

“We ended the match thinking we could have made it to the final,” Roma coach Paulo Fonseca said.

Winning the Europa League was Roma’s only potential route back into the Champions League for next season, when it will be coached by Mourinho after the team chose this week to part ways with Fonseca.

Villarreal reach Europa League final; Arsenal eliminated

Villareal’s Juan Foyth, left, and Villareal’s Manu Trigueros, centre, celebrate at the end of the Europa League semifinal second leg match between Arsenal and Villarreal at the Emirates stadium in London, England, Thursday, May 6, 2021. The game finished 0-0, Villarreal winning the tie 2-1 on aggregate. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Unai Emery is heading back to the Europa League final — at the expense of the club that fired him last season.

Emery’s Villarreal held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw in the second leg of their semifinal on Thursday, which was enough to secure a 2-1 aggregate win and set up a final against Manchester United on May 26 in Poland.

Emery will be looking for his fourth Europa League title after winning three straight with Sevilla and then taking Arsenal to the final two years ago.

“Satisfaction, pride, happiness,” Emery said when asked how he was feeling after the match. “We have to go to the final and beat Manchester United.”

On his first return to the Emirates since being fired in November 2019, Emery calmly walked out of the tunnel so late that he nearly missed the kickoff. He quickly shook his replacement Mikel Arteta’s hand and then watched as his new team held a toothless Arsenal at bay without ever looking seriously threatened.

For Arsenal, the failure to overturn the deficit means the team is facing the likelihood of being shut out of European competition for the first time in 25 years.

Highlights: 

Villarreal controlled the first half, nearly scoring an early goal when Samu Chukwueze fired a curling shot in the fifth minute. But Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno was alert and palmed the ball out for a corner.

The visitors were nearly gifted a goal in the 14th, when Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey’s wild backpass from long range nearly fooled Leno, who had to backpedal quickly to get the ball under control. A free kick from Daniel Parejo culred over Arsenal’s wall but didn’t dip, sailing just over the crossbar in the 23rd.

Arsenal lacked spark in the first half, but nearly went ahead in the 26th when captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shot hit the outside of the post. The forward nearly scored again in the 39th through a goalkeeping error when his shot was spilled by Geronimo Rulli and the ball squeezed between his legs. But the keeper was able to claim it before the ball could trickle over the line.

Aubameyang hit the post again in the second half, this time on the inside. And Arsenal defender Rob Holding had two headers that went close, but Villarreal’s defense saw the match out.

Emery is already the most successful coach in the history of the Europa League, winning it three times in a row with Sevilla from 2014-2016. But he failed on his fourth attempt in 2019, when Arsenal lost 4-1 to Chelsea in the final.

On Thursday, Emery pumped his fists and screamed in joy at the final whistle before going to shake Arteta’s hand. Villarreal players were ecstatic, celebrating on the field by unfurling and holding a big banner in Spanish that said “Nos vemos en Polonia,” or “We’ll see you in Poland.”

Two of Raúl Albiol’s teammates tackled him to the ground while he was giving a post-match television interview and sprayed him with water. In the dressing room, the celebrations continued with players dancing and singing along to reggaeton hit “Dale Don Dale.”

Arsenal’s elimination will anger fans further as the team sits mid-table in the Premier League and has little chance of qualifying for even the Europa League next season.

“We are devastated, really disappointed,” Arteta said. “We tried everything up until the last minute.”

It’s a situation Arsenal hasn’t been in since the 1995-96 season — a year that fell between the illustrious managerial eras of George Graham and Arsene Wenger.

A few dozen Arsenal fans gathered outside Emirates Stadium before the match, some of them protesting against Stan Kroenke’s ownership and the club’s doomed bid to join the Super League a few weeks ago. It was a much smaller group compared to the hundreds who held a noisy demonstration before the Premier League match against Everton on April 23.

Arteta was forced to make a change before a ball was even kicked on Thursday when left back Granit Xhaka was forced to be taken out of the starting lineup after he pulled up with a tight muscle in the warmup.

“It changed our game plan completely. We could see in the first half we were struggling with the ball,” Arteta said.

Kieran Tierney, who himself just came back from a knee injury and only started training again a few days ago, was Xhaka’s replacement. Arteta lamented that he didn’t have a fully fit squad, also mentioning Aubameyang’s recent bout of malaria.

“The way we started the game wasn’t good enough,” Arteta said. “We didn’t arrive here with everybody in top condition to be at our best.”