Harry Maguire or David De Gea? Fault for calamitous Sevilla goal divides opinion

Gary Neville and Robbie Savage rose to Maguire’s defence after Sevilla took the lead, but there was no question over who was to blame for the second and third errors

Harry Maguire reacts as Manchester United went behind (Action Images via Reuters)

Manchester United were humiliated in Sevilla with captain Harry Maguire and goalkeeper David de Gea suffering disastrous evenings as the club crashed out of the Europa League.

Maguire and De Gea were at fault for all three goals as Sevilla won 5-2 on aggregate to advance to the semi-finals, but United were the architects of their own downfall.

A key moment came early in the match as United fell behind in the red-hot atmosphere of the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in Spain, with Maguire heavily involved.

The defender was caught outside his box after being swarmed by three Sevilla attackers, with the former Tottenham forward Erik Lamela winning the ball back on the edge. It was then fed to striker Youssef En-Nesyri, who finished past De Gea to put Sevilla ahead in the tie.

Maguire initially looked to be at fault, but the England international was quickly defended by Gary Neville and Robbie Savage - who said De Gea was to blame for passing in the first place.

Neville tweeted: “Maguire will get battered but that pass from DeGea I wouldn’t like!”

On BT Sport, Savage said De Gea should “never” be passing the ball out to Maguire, given the proximity of the Sevilla forwards around him.

"I don’t think Maguire wants that pass,” Savage said. “It’s a mistake from De Gea."

However, a further angle of the goal also showed that Maguire asked for the ball with his back to goal, prior to De Gea choosing to pass it inside.

Former United midfielders Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreves were also scathing of United’s play in the goal.

“Just get rid of it. I can only think of one or two centre backs in world football who would want the ball in that position,” Scholes said. “Harry Maguire is not one of them.”

There was no question who was to blame for the second and third goals, however. De Gea was beaten by a looping header from the Sevilla player Loic Bade, with the goalkeeper then taking a heavy touch when trying to control a long ball to allow En-Nesyri to score his second goal into an empty net.

United were missing the injured Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez, who have been Ten Hag’s first-choice centre backs this season.