Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku. (Photo: VCG)

Many people expected a UEFA Europa League final between Manchester United and Inter Milan but it was not to be.

Only the Milanese side managed to negotiate their semifinal encounter while they lived up to their billing as one of the star names left in the competition played out behind closed doors in Germany, beating Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0.

Their Manchester counterparts instead found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline to Europa League stalwarts Sevilla. The Spaniards have now won all six of their semifinals - and they went on to win the final itself on the previous five occasions.

While it was great news in the south of Spain, surely the one place on the continent where the Europa League is viewed with nothing like disdain, it was a shame for the headline writers, that's for sure.

"Sevilla beat Inter"or "Milan giants down Spaniards" - and one of them will have happened by the time you read this - is less sexy in newspaper terms is a game between Manchester United and "Manchester United reserves."

That is the label that Antonio Conte's Inter side have been given this season because of their recruitment policy, which seems to have had a large focus on prising away assets from the Old Trafford club.

Romelu Lukaku joined last summer and the Belgian's sale has been used as a stick with which to beat United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, especially as Lukaku scored for a 10th consecutive Europa League game when he bagged two in their 5-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the semifinal - the biggest semifinal win in a single UEFA Cup or Europa League semifinal in competition history.

More impressive perhaps is that Lukaku has been involved in 18 goals in those 10 games, scoring 14 and assisting four more. His strike rate since moving to Inter for a cut-price 58.5 million pounds is even more impessive than the 42 goals he scored in 96 appearances for the Red Devils following his move from Everton.

Lukaku has scored 33 times in 50 games this season and that is just the type of striker that Solskjaer needs, the Norwegian's critics say, even if his lithe young front three of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood have scored 62 goals between them.

One more goal and Lukaku will match the feats of Brazilian striker Ronaldo who scored 34 goals in his debut season at the San Siro, the most by any Inter player in their first season at the club.

The Belgian is not the only player to have swapped Manchester for Milan in the last 12 months.

He was followed by former Manchester United captain Ashley Young in the winter transfer window having found himself surplus to requirements under Solskjaer after nearly nine years - and seven major trophies - at Old Trafford.

While United wanted to keep him, Young jumped at the chance to jump ship and get stuck into a new challenge.

"Coming to Inter was a real opportunity," Young said, "And as soon as I heard about it, I immediately asked, 'Of course, where do I sign?'"

Young was a bargain, with a reported fee of around 1.5 million euros and he has impressed in Italy.

The veteran has been given a new lease of life in Lombardy. Helping Inter to second place in Serie A and the Europa League final should be evidence enough but more proof if it were needed comes in the fact that the 35-year-old, known for his shaven pate, came out of coronavirus quarantine with a handsomely hirsute head of hair.

While Young has not looked younger in some years, it is another former Manchester United player that has recaptured the form that made him such an exciting player before his move to Old Trafford.

That is former Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, who arrived at Old Trafford in a swap deal for Henrikh Mykhitarian that quickly went from a coup to a calamity.

The Chilean struggled in the red shirt of United and his weekly wage - a reported 350,000 pounds - was a petard with which to hang him but he has shone at the San Siro, even if not quite to the heights that made him one of the most highly rated players in world football that he was seen as during his time at the Emirates Stadium.

Sanchez was one of Conte's brightest performers both before and after Italian football's coronavirus hiatus, with one game against relegation-­bound Brescia in July featuring Sanchez fashioning six goalscoring chances for his teammates.

"Now Sanchez starts to feel good," Conte said after that game. "He is still not the Sanchez that I liked in England, but he is well on his way. Today there was a lot of effort on his part, he played an excellent game."

The Chilean has made the move permanent, becoming the latest in a long line of players to switch the blue and black stripes of Inter Milan for the red side of Manchester, and vice versa.

Those who have gone before include Juan Sebastian Veron, the Argentine midfielder who played for Inter in a loan spell in 2004-06, having joined Chelsea in 2003 after a two-year stay at Old Trafford.

Veron likened himself to Sanchez in a press conference for the Enel Cup last week.

"I was at my best in Italy and I think that's true of Alexis Sanchez too," said Veron. "I watched Sanchez play here, he's got enormous talent and is fantastic for Chile.

"Personally, I had some ups and downs at Manchester United, but I was at my best in Italy. I believe a player really finds he belongs in one league more than another. I know I did and I think that's true of Alexis Sanchez too."

Veron may have a point but given United and Inter's history - which has also inlcuded Paul Ince, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre and Laurent Blanc swap clubs - there will surely be others who fancy their chances.