Man Utd vs Lyon LIVE: Mainoo and Maguire’s late goals send Ruben Amorim’s men into Europa League semi-finals
Manchester United 5-4 Lyon (7-6 agg): Ruben Amorim’s men make it through thrilling nine-goal contest
Manchester United are into the semi-finals of the European League after the most thrilling clash at Old Trafford ended 5-4 in their favour with plenty of late drama.
The hosts took control of the match in the first half and dominated possession with Manuel Ugarte and Diogo Dalot giving Ruben Amorim’s men a two-goal advantage.
Lyon manager Paulo Fonseca made changes that worked perfectly. Corentin Tolisso pulled one back before Nicolas Tagliafico equalised for the visitors. Tolisso was dismissed late in the 90 minutes and the match went to extra-time.
Lyon were the better team even with 10-men. Rayan Cherki slotted the French side ahead and Alexandre Lacazette scored from the penalty spot to leave United trailing by two and on the brink of elimination.
But there was a twist to come. Casemiro won a penalty that Bruno Fernandes slotted home before Kobbie Mainoo, playing as striker, was calm and composed to net an equaliser in the 120th minute. Less than a minute later and Harry Maguire proved to be the match winner with a headed effort that sent Old Trafford wild.
Relive the latest from Old Trafford with our live blog below:
'Here it's never over' - Amorim
"I was watching the 1999 [Treble] documentary to have some inspiration for these moments. It was a great night, the team were tired, 4-2 with one more player, we think it's over, but here it's never over,” Amorim said.
“Here everything is possible, you feel the environment. At 4-3, after the Bruno Fernandes penalty, we felt we could change the game.”
On United's contrasting fortunes in the Premier League and Europe
“We started well but we are not consistent enough to maintain the game for a long time.
“We must recognise the context, we lack a lot of characteristics in our team, physicality is a problem,” Amorim conceded.
“When we play against European teams we can cope better with that, in the Premier League we suffer a lot.”
On the fans that left early
Amorim was in sufficiently good spirits to joke about the fans that streamed out of Old Trafford at 4-2 down.
“I feel for the people that had to leave when it was 4-2 [to Lyon] because of the traffic. They will be gutted!”
Time to 'make something special' - Amorim
"It is a special moment,” Amorim said. “We know we are underperforming and deserve all the critics.
“But we still have time to make something special of this season."
The semi-finals
Thursday, 1 May: Away v Athletic Bilbao - Europa League.
Thursday, 8 May: Home v Athletic Bilbao - Europa League.
Mark your calendars.
Harry Maguire’s late winner provided ‘best sound in the world’ for Ruben Amorim
Ruben Amorim said that Harry Maguire’s winning goal in the dying moments of extra-time provided the ‘best sound in the world’ as the Manchester United’s supporters took the roof off Old Trafford when their team defeated Lyon 5-4 (7-6 agg) in the Europa League.
A quarter-final second leg that United had won, lost and won again twisted and turned throughout the 120 minutes taking the manager and watching fans through a full range of emotions during a nine-goal thriller in Manchester.
Harry Maguire’s late winner provided ‘best sound in the world’ for Ruben Amorim
'Rolling the snowball' - Kobbie Mainoo
Goalscorer Kobbie Mainoo: “The performance wasn't up to the highest standard, but a win like that can bring so much momentum, we're rolling the snowball and it could get bigger and bigger. Hopefully we can go all the way.”
'I'm sure we can win it' - Leny Yoro
Speaking on TNT Sports Leny Yoro credits the Old Trafford support for getting them through that game.
“The fans give everything in every game, whatever the position in the table, they are always there to support us, so I want to say thank you - it’s because of them that we won the game,” he says.
“Of course our target is to win the trophy. We are Manchester United, we need to believe. I’m sure we can do it, we will give everything to do it. This game showed everything until the last minute. That was crazy.”
'When we scored the penalty I knew we would win' - Leny Yoro
“Honestly I don’t understand what happened. The fans are crazy, they really helped us today.
How did it feel at 4-2 down? “A lot of things, it was difficult, but when you heard the fans even with 4-2 you know you can do. When we scored the penalty [Bruno Fernandes to make it 4-3], I knew for sure [we would win]. We need to believe - if you don’t believe you cannot win.”
Noise at Old Trafford 'best sound in the world'
“We started well but we are not consistent enough to maintain the game for a long time,” Amorim continues. “When I feel the team is a little bit tired we drop a lot. We should do better with the two goals of Lyon.
“When we play against European teams, we can cope better with that, but in the Premier League we suffer a lot,” he says on the pace and physicality of the top flight.
But he ends on a positive note.
“That sound is the best sound in the world,” he says of the noise that greeted Maguire’s winning goal, before joking about the fans leaving at the 4-2 down mark to get the best of the traffic.
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