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Martial's solo goal, Lukaku's scoring run... 6 things in yesterday UEL games

  /  Wyp1993

The Europa League returned on Thursday night with an exciting round of last-32 action.

There were 16 games in total, spread across the two time slots, with Man Utd and Arsenal involved plus a host of big names including Inter, who dropped down from the Champions League.

With so much action, there's no doubt some things may have flown under the radar, but we've listed things from Man Utd, Arsenal and Inter's Europa games.

1. Martial finding his killer instinct

Anthony Martial can too often look as though he is simply going through the motions. 

The Red Devils had been awful for the first 36 minutes of the game until young Maxim De Cuyper went long with his throw-in to the veteran Brandon Mechele, and the defender foolishly allowed the ball to roll across his body. 

This was all the encouragement the Frenchman needed and he pounced. Martial pressed ferociously, stealing the ball back before accelerating powerfully into the gap behind the defence. Two touches, the second spectacularly moving the ball across the path of Mechele, put Martial into the box and he finished calmly.

That goal was enormous. It pulled United level when they never looked capable of creating anything and gave them the advantage in the tie. 

The way he pressed, pushed on and finished coolly was an example of his growing killer instinct. 

2. Lukaku takes a step closer to matching Shearer

Lukaku started Inter's 2-0 win over Ludogorets on the bench, with Conte resting him for the Serie A title push. But he came on in the second half and had a big impact, first setting up Eriksen's opener before getting on the scoresheet himself. 

Capping the win in injury time, Lukaku scored for the sixth consecutive Europa League game, a run that includes five matches with Everton in the 2014/15 campaign — as he only played Champions League football for Manchester United.

It's the best goalscoring run in Europe's secondary continental club competition since Alan Shearer scored in eight consecutive Uefa Cup matches 15 years ago.

3. Eriksen gets off the mark at Inter

Inter will be pained that they are in the Europa League, having started the season in the Champions League. But now they are in it, Conte's men have their eyes on the prize.

Despite some rotation, Inter played a strong enough line-up to see off a tough Ludogorets test and took the lead through January signing Eriksen. 

The Dane's first goal for Inter came with his ninth shot in total and he will be hoping it is the first of many. 

4. Lacazette atones for an earlier miss 

The France international was dropped to the bench for Sunday's 4-0 Premier League win over Newcastle but scored to end a nine-game drought.

That last-minute strike at St James' Park was seemingly enough to persuade Arteta to hand Lacazette a chance against Olympiakos.

It seemed like the tactical switch hadn't paid off, though, with the former Lyon star somehow missing a glorious chance to open the scoring in the first half, fluffing his lines from close range.

But, having done little for the majority of the second half, Lacazette then popped up with a crucial goal with nine minutes remaining to secure a much-needed win for the visiting side.

5. Fred and Fernandes show their importance

For 80 minutes, Manchester United were objectively quite bad. They had brought Fred on after 71 minutes but the Brazilian couldn’t turn things around himself. 

Then Bruno Fernandes came on, and suddenly Manchester United looked like a football team again.

Through the combination of Fred and Fernandes, United's midfield began functioning. Passes were exchanged at speed, the ball was pushed into key areas and Brugge couldn't handle them. Fernandes has the second-most goals so far in this season's Europa League and this game showed just how much influence is wielded already for United. 

As the tournament wears on, his partnership with Fred could be the difference between victory and defeat.

6. Guendouzi back in the line-up

Guendouzi appears to be back in Mikel Arteta's good books - after being dropped by the manager last weekend.

Arteta was not happy with Guendouzi’s attitude in training in the mid-season break in Dubai last week, as revealed by Mirror Sport.

Guendouzi was subsequently dropped from the Arsenal squad by Arteta for the 4-0 demolition of Premier League rivals Newcastle on Sunday.

However, he's obviously got his head down in training this week and done enough to persuade his new boss that he deserves a chance in the first-team.

So, what did he prove on Thursday night? Not a lot, if we're being honest. He went about his business quietly in the middle of the park, but the youngster didn't exactly pull up any trees.