Marcus Rashford, Manchester United, Marouane Fellaini, Europa League, Anderlecht
Marcus Rashford celebrates with Marouane Fellaini after scoring the winner for Manchester United, April 20, 2017Reuters

It wasn't easy, Manchester United showed their profligacy in front of goal again, but the English Premier League club moved to the semifinals of the Europa League with an extra time win over Anderlecht in the quarterfinals second leg.

With the tie locked up at 1-1 after the first leg in Belgium, the advantage was certainly with Manchester United going into this second leg at Old Trafford, considering they had scored an away goal.

And that advantage only bulged when Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored in the tenth minute.

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After Paul Pogba played a wonderful through ball to Marcus Rashford down the left channel, the England forward, initially, tried to find Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The ball rebounded back to him, and Rashford squared the ball to Mkhitaryan, who provided an accomplished finish.

However, Manchester United would not be able to go into halftime with the lead, as Sofiane Hanni equalised, latching onto a rebound in the 32nd minute after an initial shot had hit the crossbar.

Then came the tale of missed chance after missed chance as the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Rashford Jesse Lingard and Pogba all failed to find their range, which meant, with the tie level at 2-2 on aggregate, this Europa League quarterfinal went into extra time.

The extra time was made all the more complicated by the fact that Ibrahimovic had already limped off by then with a knee injury, picked up when he landed awkwardly from an aerial challenge and which could rule the Swede out of the rest of the season.

Marcus Rashford, Manchester United, Anderlecht, Europa League, quarterfinals second leg
Marcus Rashford scores the winner, April 20, 2017Reuters

Rashford, now deployed through the middle, though, would make sure Manchester United would not need penalties to advance by scoring the winner in the 107th minute.

It was a bit route one, with Marouane Fellaini, the big man, nodding the ball down for Rashford inside the box, with the Englishman showing composure by taking a touch, before placing the ball unto the bottom corner.

Manchester United are now ever closer to sealing a Champions League place. With a top four spot via the Premier League looking difficult, Jose Mourinho will want to make sure his team are in Europe's elite competition by going on to win the Europa League.

United's opponents in the semifinals could be Lyon, Ajax or Celta Vigo.

Watch the highlights of the match HERE and below