Manchester United’s matchwinner Harry Maguire admitted his side “made really hard work” of their Europa League quarter-final clash against Olympique Lyonnais.
That might be the understatement of the century from the extra-time hero, who bagged the winner in the 121st minute at Old Trafford.
Maguire’s towering header secured an incredible 5-4 comeback win after his side squandered a 2-0 advantage to end up 4-2 down with just ten minutes left to play.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, the 32-year-old reflected coolly on an incredible emotional evening under the lights.
Without cracking a smile, he said: “Obviously it’s an incredible game, we made really hard work of it. We had full control in the second half, had chances to score a third, then they scored out of nowhere. It put us on the back foot.”
It’s easy to get carried away in the hysteria of the late drama, but the Englishman remained realistic, admitting “to go down 4-2 in extra-time to 10 men is not good enough, we opened ourselves up too much.
“But we dug in and showed great spirit, that’s what this stadium does.”
The United fans who sensibly hadn’t left Old Trafford had barely recovered their senses after Kobbie Mainoo netted a late equaliser when the atmosphere exploded all over again as Maguire converted from a Casemiro cross.
Of his goal, he said: “I felt like the fourth goal for them was a sucker punch but that we’d get chances to get back into it.
“It fell to myself and thankfully I scored, it was an amazing feeling.”
Just to add more fuel to the late drama, a VAR check looking into a potential Maguire foul on the defender kept United on tenterhooks with penalties looming.
But the centre-back is confident that there was nothing wrong: “He was back-pedalling but I just held him there, with my hand, there was nowhere near enough for a foul.”
Featured image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
