Man Utd 2 Sevilla 2: Wasteful Red Devils throw away two-goal lead in shambolic late meltdown as TWO stars go off injured
ERIK TEN HAG has not got much wrong since he came to Manchester United.
This was another matter.
With his team in charge he made four unforced substitutions during the second-half.
The players who came on, bar Christian Eriksen, were simply not as good as those who went off.
And from dominating with two Marcel Sabitzer goals inside the first 21 minutes, they ended up level and all over the place.
Jesus Navas, ex of Manchester City, drove in a cross on 84 minutes that deflected off Tyrell Malacia and David De Gea at the near post and went in.
Then in injury time it was Harry Maguire’s turn to put the ball in at the wrong end as Youssef En-Nesri’s header bounced off him and past De Gea.
The travelling faithful went mad, the rest of Old Trafford was dumbstruck.
It had all started so well.
Sabitzer is just on-loan at Manchester United.
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On the evidence of this first half the deal should be made permanent from Bayern Munich.
Ten Hag had called on Anthony Martial to step up to the plate with top scorer Marcus Rashford injured.
Instead it was 29-year-old Sabitzer with a couple of swings who looked like he had smashed Sevilla out the ball park.
His quick fire first half double had put Manchester United in charge of this Europa League quarter-final.
But a failure to find a third goal and a late lapse has left a semi-final place up for grabs as the Red Devils head to Spain next week.
Sabitzer’s opener came after 14 minutes.
Martial had more movement about him than we have seen for some seasons in this his first start back since injury.
What a turn he did on the sideline to attract three Sevilla players before laying the ball off to Jadon Sancho.
He found Casemiro, who was back and buzzing after his four game suspension.
The Brazilian laid it off for Bruno Fernandes to slide a ball through and Austrian international Sabitzer’s shot looped over the goalkeeper with the help of a slight defelection.
Strike two followed on 21 minutes with the lively Martial slotting the ball through this time for Sabitzer who finished with the look of a seasoned striker.
Sabitzer scored as many goals in a seven minutes here as he did in 54 games at Bayern Munich.
In fact for club and country it is now five in six games, having opened his United account against Fulham in the FA Cup and scoring two for Austria against Azerbaijan in the recent international break.
Sabitzer has been moved up field in the last three games in a tactical tweak that has paid dividends.
Bruno Fernandes in turn has dropped deeper to dictate play in a quarter-back role.
He had called on Antony before the game to start giving more claiming ‘he can kill opponents’.
Sevilla’s Marcos Acuna was just dying for the game to end as he twisted, turned, fired and flicked.
Antony’s performances are getting better, and better for United.
He was alive in the very first breaths of this game playing a great ball through for Jadon Sancho to score after just 15 seconds but he was offside.
Antony’s performance deserved a goal and he nearly got one too with a run and shot in the second half-that cannoned back off the inside of the far post.
This was a Sevilla side who despite their pedigree in the competitions were vulnerable and United knew it.
But did Ten Hag underestimate them with all the changes.
He warned his side they would be a danger after all they have lifted this trophy six times in the guise of the UEFA Cup and now Europa League.
The Spanish side also knocked United out the semi-finals of this competition in 2020 and the Champions League in 2018.
Still it was a club who arrived here in disarray, now on it’s third coach this season and standing 13th in the table having looked like title challengers for a time in the last campaign before a late collapse.
On Friday they had surrendered a two goal lead in the last couple of minutes to draw 2-2 with Celta Vigo and had two players sent off.
Another could have seen red when Erik Lamela’s studs landed on Casemiro’s shin.
The VAR checked and stuck with the referees yellow.
Casemiro would be in the wars again in the second half when Nemanja Gudelj’s attempted overhead saw him kick the Brazilian in the face.
Another yellow.
United had totally dominated the visitors in the first period up until injury time in that opening period when David De Gea had to make a fine save from Tanguy Nianzou’s header.
It was a warning.
With a packed schedule that will have taken them to Nottingham, Sevilla and Wembley by a week Sunday, Ten Hag made a triple change just past the hour.
Fernandes, Sancho and Martial all came off replaced by Wout Weghorst, Christian Eriksen and Anthony Elanga.
Harry Maguire had already come on at the break after Raphael Varane had got injured.
While Antony would go off to a great ovation with ten minutes to go to be replaced by Facundo Pellistri.
It was too many. The team completely lost its shape and lost control.
Especially when Lisandro Martinez was carried injured off the pitch by two Sevilla players before breaking down in tears.
And United will also be without Bruno Fernandes for next week’s return leg through suspension after he picked up a yellow.