For 84 minutes, it looked as Manchester United had one foot in the semi finals of the Europa League.
Erik ten Hag’s side blew Sevilla away in the early stages of the quarter final first leg at Old Trafford with Marcel Sabitzer scoring twice.
But just minutes before half time, there was the first sign that this wasn’t going to be a perfect night for United.
Bruno Fernandes was shown a very harsh yellow card for blocking Nemanja Gudelj’s shot with his arm from close range. Bruno had turned away from the ball and certainly didn’t intentionally block the ball with his arm.
He was shown a yellow card meaning he would be suspended for the second leg.
Missing Bruno was always going to be a blow, but United fans would still have felt confident travelling to Sevilla with a 2-0 lead.
But that’s not the case.
Raphael Varane was substituted for Harry Maguire at half time due to injury, but the Red Devils held firm for the majority of the second half.
That was until the 84th minute when Jesus Navas’ cut back deflected in off Tyrell Malacia for an own goal.
Immediately afterward, fellow defender Lisandro Martinez had to be carried off the pitch with a serious-looking injury.
And the piece-de-la-resistance was a Maguire own goal in injury-time to give Sevilla a 2-2 draw.
Incredible.
It means that United will travel to Spain next week potentially missing FIVE important players.
They already had both Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford sidelined through knocks and now Varane and Martinez have picked up injuries that could rule them out of the second line. While Bruno is definitely out having picked up an incredibly harsh yellow card.
So, how could Man Utd line up for the second next next week as they book to progress into the last four of the competition?
Let’s take a look:
Ten Hag admitted that his side had some ‘unlucky’ moments with injuries which saw them lose control of the match.
“There were some unlucky moments, injuries,” Ten Hag said. “We had to make some subs with injuries. Rapha [Varane] at half-time. Also Anthony Martial, we had to sub him because it was his first game after [injury] – his first start.
“Antony as well, and Bruno [Fernandes] because they were close to a second booking. So we had to make some subs and then lose control in the unlucky moment [Sevilla’s first goal]. Another unlucky moment with Licha Martinez. We have 10 [men] and we conceded two own goals. It was bad luck and we have to deal with that. Of course, we have to learn, we have to kill the game but still everything is open for the next game.
“We have seen Licha Martinez drop out after a moment. There was no opponent involved so it doesn’t look that great so we have to wait. I can’t say in this moment [what it is], the same as Rapha. I think it is for after the game, but that injury, he [has] complained [about] over the last couple of weeks and we have to see how it is now.”
