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It was Bilbao or bust. Just when it seemed it would be bust, Manchester United condemning their season to utter failure, they instead salvaged one of their latest and greatest comebacks. Harry Maguire headed them to Bilbao, for a Europa League semi-final against Athletic, perhaps for a return to the Basque Country for the final. They may yet get Champions League football, some £100m in broadcast, matchday and commercial income.
They may yet get redemption. They did on the night, after seeming to capitulate as Lyon scored four unanswered goals. Then came the United response, three of their own, deep into extra time. First the outstanding Bruno Fernandes, coolly slotting in a penalty that may have been generously awarded after Casemiro went to ground.
Then Kobbie Mainoo, sent on as an emergency striker, finishing like a centre-forward, taking Casemiro’s pass and curling a shot into the corner. Then Maguire, the 120th-minute hero heading in a cross from Casemiro. Him again, the Brazilian, the serial Champions League winner taking himself closer to Europa League glory.
Lyon could be forgiven for wondering what had hit them. They had mustered a terrific comeback of their own. At 2-0, they were seemingly down and out. At 4-2 up, they only had 10 minutes to see through. Yet there was a cruelty for Paulo Fonseca and his team. United may be 14th in the Premier League but they are the only unbeaten team in the Europa League, a different beast in Europe. When embarrassment was on the cards, they produced excitement.
Where to start? For an hour or so, this was one of United’s best performances of the season, leaving everyone wondering where this kind of football had been all year. They began well. They were rewarded with a goal. The dynamic Alejandro Garnacho took Fernandes’ pass and turned sharply in the penalty are to cut the ball back. Manuel Ugarte sidefooted in his second United goal.
As United continued to push, Casemiro had a low shot pushed just past the post by Lucas Perri. It was terrific goalkeeping, but the Brazilian was beaten again on the stroke of half-time. Dalot latched on to Maguire’s long pass to angle a low shot beyond Perri. A wing-back in the box, scoring goals: this may be part of Amorim’s vision.
Meanwhile, Fernandes was brilliant, almost scoring one of the great United goals when he volleyed Dalot’s long pass against the bar, twice also coming close to spectacular goals.
For Fonseca, barred from the touchline for nine months in French football for an altercation with a referee, the view from the technical area surely was not enjoyable initially. Yet he took advantage of his greater involvement to change the game with his substitutes. In particular, the introduction of Alexandre Lacazette provided a lifeline. He gave Lyon a focal point in the box. United creaked under pressure.
Corentin Tolisso headed in from six yards after Casemiro failed to clear a free kick and the substitute Lacazette glanced the ball into the midfielder’s path. Six minutes later, Lyon struck again, Nicolas Tagliafico angling in a shot from Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ cross before Onana could claw it back from behind the line. Lacazette followed up to make sure anyway.
Tolisso departed, a trip on the raiding Yoro bringing him a second yellow card. It gave United a man advantage, yet, a quarter of an hour later, Lyon had a goal advantage, the excellent Rayan Cherki drilling the ball into the bottom corner after a burst from the replacement Malick Fofana. Scorer of a 95th-minute equaliser in Lyon, he struck even later, leaving Onana motionless.
The dynamic Fofana was tripped by Luke Shaw, a United substitute, and Lacazette converted the penalty. So it was 4-2, with United heading out, with Fonseca’s changes working better than Amorim’s.
Until it wasn’t, until the substitute Mainoo scored and Casemiro starred and Maguire wrote his name into Old Trafford folklore. As the watching Sir Alex Ferguson might have said, football, bloody hell.
English (US) ·