Manchester United forward Joshua Zirkzee has claimed it would be “ridiculous” to point the finger at Andre Onana for the club’s failure to beat Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday evening.
United were held to a 2-2 draw at the Groupama Stadium in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie.
Onana was at fault for both goals conceded, failing to keep out Thiago Almada’s free kick before spilling a shot from Georges Mikautadze in the dying embers of the match, which allowed Rayan Cherki to tap in home from close range.
Cherki’s stoppage-time strike came seven minutes after Zirkzee thought he had won the game for his side.
After the final whistle, Ruben Amorim refused to heap the blame on Onana, indicating the whole team needed to take responsibility for the result.
However, this has done little to quell the criticism being aimed at the Cameroonian, with growing calls for him to be dropped ahead of the upcoming fixtures.
Zirkzee spoke to reporters and gave his verdict on Onana’s disastrous display.
The Dutchman said [as quoted by Manchester Evening News], “100 percent. We’re one team, so we’re not going to take someone out for making mistakes. That’s ridiculous.”
“To draw in this way is always a little bit, I don’t want to say frustrating, but it hurts for it to go this way. But it was what it is and we just have to focus on the next game and that’s Newcastle away. And then we all know what we have to do when we face them again at home next week.”
“I’m sure with the full support of the stadium it’s going to be difficult for them and easier for us, but they’re a great team, let’s not forget that, and it’s not going to be easy, but we all want to win, we have to win, so we’ll see.”
He added, “We have to win [the Europa League], we all know that. There’s no way around that. It’s the only thing we have to do.”
Zirkzee remarked about his goal, “The goals are always great, but in the end we have to win, and that’s the priority.”
“I did a bit of training, it was the exact way I trained my headers this past week. So it was, yeah, if you want to call it coincidence, but for it to happen this way was very nice.”
United are back in action on Sunday when they go away to St James’ Park to face Eddie Howe’s Newcastle. Kick-off is at 16:30 BST.
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
