Manchester United’s January signing Bruno Fernandes was on the scoresheet again from the 12 yards spot to help the Red Devils edge past FC Copenhagen 1-0 on Monday in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

In another match of the day, Italian giants Inter Milan overpowered Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 to book their spot in the last four. Romelu Lukaku and Nicolo Barella had put Inter ahead before Kai Havertz tried to restore some pride for his team.

To reduce the length of the competition, all the quarterfinal matches are being played as one-off tie behind the closed doors in a bio-secure environment across four German venues – Cologne, Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Gelsenkirchen.

Meanwhile, United’s performance was a display of their strugggle despite playing with their strongest possible line-up possible. Danish side Copenhagen looked more favourable for the breakthrough in the first half as 18-year-old Mohamed Daramy came close to score on two ocassions.

Eric Bailly intervened just when Daramy was trying to send in a bouncing cross. The Ivorian defender was at the heart of the matter again as be blocked Jens Stage’s effort after Fred had played him into trouble.

It was only in the dying minutes of the first half that Copenhagen defenders were tested when Marcus Rashford took his chance with a long-ranger. But Swedish goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson produced the first of his multitude of successful saves to deny United the chance to take a lead ahead of the break.

In the second half, United’s young forward Mason Greenwood had finally seen the back of the net only for his effort to be denied by VAR intervention. The teenager was found to be in an off-side position before scoring.

Meanwhile, Fernandes also came into the thick of action when he disturbed Johansson with a strike from the distance. But the goalkeeper played his role to perfection.

Even though United were the dominating side in the second half, they failed to alter the scoreline and the match was directed into the extra time where Fernandes scored a penalty in just the fifth minute.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team will now play the winner of the quarterfinal between Spanish team Sevilla and English side Wolves in the semifinals.

On the other hand, Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen played a tiring quarterfinal after three goals in a span of 10 minutes were scored in the first quarter of the match itself.

Barella had put Inter ahead in the 15th minute when he drove home the ball that came as a defection after Lukaku’s shot was blocked. The Belgian striker, though, could not be kept away from the nets as he extended the Nerazzurri’s lead six minutes later.

Havertz, who has been the subject of a strong interest from English Premier League club Chelsea, then made the equation interesting when he scored one for Leverkusen in the 24th minute.

However, his effort failed to bring Leverkusen into the contest as throughout the remaining minutes of the game, it was Inter Milan who had taken to the offensive mode.

Antonio Conte’s side will next face either Ukrainian side Shaktar Donetsk or Swiss team FC Basel.