Rangers knocked out Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce 3-2 on penalties as Chelsea saw out a 1-0 home win against Copenhagen to ensure their place in the last eight of the Europa Conference League.
Two spot-kicks and a late arrowed finish from Fernandes sent Man Utd into the quarter-finals by a 5-2 aggregate margin against 10-man Sociedad.
“We need to help him win titles, because he deserves it,” Man Utd manager Ruben Amorim said of his captain.
“It was a good performance. The physicality was there… Even without the sending-off, you felt that the team were going to win this game.”
A 10th-minute penalty gave the visitors the lead at Old Trafford before Fernandes converted from 12 yards in the 16th and 50th minutes.
Jon Aramburu saw red shortly after the hour and Man Utd took full advantage with Fernandes rifling in a third three minutes from time and Diogo Dalot rubber-stamping an emphatic victory in injury-time.
Amorim’s side will meet Lyon in the next round.
Goals in either half from Wilson Odobert and James Maddison in London earned Spurs a 3-1 win against AZ Alkmaar.
Odobert powered home following sloppy AZ defending to get Spurs level on aggregate in the 26th minute, after the first leg finished 1-0 to the Dutch side.
Maddison put the hosts 2-0 up three minutes into the second period with an arrowed finish before Peer Koopmeiners responded after the hour to level the tie again.
Odobert grabbed his second and Spurs’ third on the night in the 74th minute to set up a quarter-final meeting with Eintracht Frankfurt.
“We played pretty well, I thought we were really in control of the game, but we were our own worst enemies at times,” Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou.
“It got a bit nervy towards the end but we thoroughly deserved to progress.”
After losing the first leg in Istanbul 3-1, Fenerbahce fought back at Rangers to win 2-0.
Polish winger Sebastian Szymanski produced two cute finishes in the 45th and 73rd minutes to force extra-time with the aggregate score locked at three-apiece.
But three missed spot-kicks by the Turkish side handed Rangers a 3-2 win in the shoot-out and a last-eight clash with Athletic Bilbao.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall got the winner 10 minutes into the second half at Stamford Bridge to send Chelsea through the Conference League quarter-finals at the expense of Copenhagen, 3-1 over both legs. (AFP)
