David de Gea failed at the end of a marathon 10-11 penalty shootout as Villarreal dashed Manchester United's hopes of Europa League glory in Gdansk.
This was a disappointing contest lacking in quality and producing only three shots on target across 120 minutes - but drama arrived with the spot-kicks.
It gave Villarreal a first major trophy in their history and saw former Arsenal boss Unai Emery lift the Europa League for an unprecedented fourth time.
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However, on the anniversary of both Sir Matt Busby's birth and the epic Champions League final in 1999 that earned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hero status among the Old Trafford faithful, there was to be no new 26 May landmark as United complete a fourth year without silverware.
United simply did not do enough, despite the massive gulf in transfer fees and salaries between the two clubs.
Solskjaer's side did not start well and fell behind to a soft goal from Gerard Moreno.
Edinson Cavani dragged United level 10 minutes into the second period after a Marcus Rashford shot had been deflected into his path, but United failed to build on that momentum and by the end Solskjaer was introducing Juan Mata and Alex Telles purely to take penalties in the shootout.
Source: BBC