Marcus Rashford scored an extra time winner as Manchester United scraped past a resilient Anderlecht side to reach the Europa League semi-finals.
It was a familiar frustrating home game for the hosts throughout as they missed a host of big chances before finally settling things late on.
United took an early lead thanks to a superb move started by Paul Pogba in midfield, with the pace of Marcus Rashford stretching the Anderlecht defence and allowing him to tee up Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The Armenian has enjoyed the Europa League this season, with his fourth strike of the season in this competition giving the Red Devils a 10th-minute lead that eased the nerves of the home crowd.
However, United seemed to take their foot off the gas and allow the visitors back into the game, with Anderlecht hitting back in the 32nd minute.
United were all over the place at the back as a deflected shot found its way to Lukasz Teodorczyk in the box, with his poor touch then allowing team-mate Sofiane Hanni to smash in from close range.
Ibrahimovic and Rashford then missed a host of chances towards the end of the game as United piled on the pressure, with the latter looking like being wrongly called offside in the closing stages.
Things went from bad to worse for United as Ibrahimovic landed awkwardly right at the end of normal time, forcing him off on a stretcher to be replaced by Anthony Martial for the start of extra time.
United started brightly as they continued their search for a winner, with Rashford showing exceptional skill on the right flank to set up Pogba with a rabona cross, only for the Frenchman to see his overhead kick blocked on the line.
Pogba was frustrated again towards the end of the first half of extra time, with his goal chalked off by the referee due to a perceived push on the defender by substitute Marouane Fellaini.
Rashford finally got his reward for a scintillating display with a well-taken goal in the 107th minute, with his neat footwork getting him past the Anderlecht defence before slotting home with his left foot.
MORE : Rashford outshines Ibrahimovic to show he is Man Utd’s future
United continued to create the best chances in the closing stages, with yet another goal ruled out for offside as Martial thought he’d added a third after slotting home from close range.
Still, in the end Mourinho’s men claimed a deserved win that could have been by a far greater margin. While they have faced similar scoring struggles at home in the Premier League this season, they found just enough tonight to continue their quest towards qualifying for the Champions League by winning this competition.
MORE : Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffers horror injury against Anderlecht as knee bends wrong way
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