Manchester United’s first quarter-final against Sevilla in the Europa League was a nightmare.
The away team came back in the match after two (!) own goals and two heavy injuries.
– I find it difficult to find words, says Manchester United’s two-goal scorer Marcel Sabitzer.
Manchester United are aiming to win their second title this season but it was a nightmarish first quarter-final against Sevilla in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Marcel Sabitzer scored twice in the first half and Manchester United looked set for a 2–0 victory when everything went wrong.
Double own goal
With six minutes left to full time Tyrell Malacia headed the ball into his own goal and in added time Harry Maguire did the same.
Sevilla went into next week’s return leg 2-2, with Manchester United looking set to be without several key players.
Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw have been injured before and on Thursday evening the big star Bruno Fernandes picked up a yellow card which means he will miss the return.
In addition, Raphaël Varane was forced off at half-time and then fellow centre-back Lisandro Martínez was carried off on a stretcher in tears at the end of the game, forcing Manchester United to finish the game with ten men.
“Total disaster”writes Manchester Evening News profile reporter Samuel Luckhurst Twitter.
“Shit target”
Marcel Sabitzer was not allowed to become the hero of the match.
– I have a hard time finding words. It was like a rollercoaster. We were going to close the game and it was a draw, that was not what we wanted, says the Austrian to BT Sport.
– In a tournament like this, you have to be focused until the final whistle. The last few minutes were strange and there were two crappy goals.
Anthony Elanga substituted
Anthony Elanga had to play the last half hour for Manchester United and Victor Nilsson Lindelöf remained on the bench for the entire match.
The winner between Manchester United and Sevilla will face Juventus or Sporting CP in the semi-finals of the Europa League. The first leg of that quarter-final ended 1–0 to Juventus at the Allianz Stadium.
