At the end of the first half of extra time against Lyon, the TV cameras caught Ruben Amorim with his tactics board out. You might not be far wrong if you believed that the board merely had one straight line on it, bottom to top, indicating for Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire to move to centre-forward, and little else.
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“We’re probably short on attackers,” Maguire said after the game. Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho had been substituted after workhorse performances. Joshua Zirkzee has been ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury, while Amad is still recovering from an ankle issue.“If he (Amorim) asks me to play up there, I’m willing to go up there,” the United defender added. “I do see myself as a threat and I do feel like I can score a goal.”
Six seconds after Bruno Fernandes kicks off the second half of extra time, Maguire is next to his Lyon counterpart Moussa Niakhate.
Casemiro is the deepest midfielder, ahead of a back three of Leny Yoro sandwiched between two attacking defenders in Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw.
United, down 3-2 after going 2-0 up in the first half, needed a goal. Four minutes later, they needed two. Alexandre Lacazette had scored from the penalty spot after Shaw fouled the impressive Malick Fofana.
The tactics board now redundant, Casemiro joined Maguire up front and United’s back three became a back one, with Yoro — hailed by Maguire as United’s “best player” over the two legs — holding the fort.
What followed was 11 minutes of bedlam, the kind only Old Trafford can produce.
Having Shaw on the pitch with youngster Harry Amass, who came on with 100 minutes on the clock, allowed the more senior left-back to get into the left half-spaces to whip in crosses. In the 111th minute, Shaw’s cross is blocked while Maguire and Niakhate wrestle each other to the floor.
Maguire reacts furiously but play goes on, with Shaw swinging in another delivery.
Casemiro jumps to win it and a neat touch from Kobbie Mainoo (as seen on the pitchside monitor below) sends the Brazilian through on goal.
Thiago Almada’s attempt to kick the ball clear meets Casemiro’s boot from underneath and United appeal. It takes two minutes for VAR to review the incident, with this frame on the pitchside monitor convincing referee Sandro Scharer to award a penalty.
Fernandes converts past goalkeeper Luca Perri, who dives the right way.
Lyon go back to Perri from kick-off, and he kicks long. Confusion ensues — first between Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, and then between Yoro and Shaw — but United pass back to Andre Onana.
A foul on Mason Mount at the halfway line gives United the chance to push forward. Fernandes’ pass to the edge of the box is flicked on by Mount…
…to Maguire, who is battling Niakhate again. Both players end up on the floor, prompting United to appeal for a penalty. Yet replays show that the duo tugged on each other’s shirts, cancelling each other out.
United win the long ball from the restart and Lyon clear Shaw’s cross twice, the second time resulting in a volley from Fernandes that swerves well wide.
Lyon win the second ball from the following goal kick, with Fofana trying to find Lacazette. Yoro shows composure to pass back to Onana under pressure.
Lyon clears a Fernandes cross before Ainsley Maitland-Niles intercepts a Shaw pass, clearing the ball all the way back to Onana near the halfway line.
Fernandes receives from his goalkeeper and as he surveys his options, Casemiro makes a run from the centre of the box to the left, unnoticed by Lyon’s defenders.
The move takes two Lyon players out of the equation and forces a third towards him, giving him the chance to flick Fernandes’ pass to Mainoo in space.
Mainoo’s first touch is excellent, setting him for a curling finish past Perri to make it 4-4 on the night.
The goal was the perfect blend of his finish for the winner against Wolverhampton Wanderers last February and the curler against Liverpool two months later, which were both scored from similar areas.
It is rare to see such a well-worked goal in the final seconds of extra time, but how often do you witness a match like this?
Away from the cameras, Maguire signalled to Amorim in the aftermath to ask if he should stay up front or drop back to help United defend. The answer became obvious seconds later.
As Lyon went long again from kick-off, Yoro initially controlled the ball to take it wide to get United forward.
The young centre-back swiftly changed direction as Lacazette closed him down, with Yoro showing great composure again to pass to Onana past the Lyon captain’s outstretched foot.
United committed numbers forward again, leaving only Yoro in their own half. Shaw overlaps Amass but the youngster passes back to Casemiro. Now fully locked into his role as an emergency striker/No 10 hybrid, the Brazilian delivers a cross towards Maguire.
Mount’s run drags a defender away from Maguire, who finds a yard of space after nudging Niakhate in the back before guiding his header into the far corner.
The score is 7-6 on aggregate, tie over.
United turned a disaster into success in a mind-bogglingly chaotic 11 minutes.
In his time in charge, Amorim has removed the transitional mayhem that accompanied Erik ten Hag’s United. The prioritisation of control without the requisite quality in personnel has made them, at times, an exhausting watch. The second half and extra time against Lyon showed there is still unlearning to do but that worked to their advantage on Thursday night.
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Mainoo, Casemiro and Maguire — players whose futures at the club have been questioned at various points this season — were the catalysts alongside Fernandes, the piano player, carrier and manufacturer rolled into one. Goalkeeper Onana, the latest addition to that ever-revolving carousel following a first-leg display that saw him dropped at the weekend against Newcastle United, racing to embrace Amorim after United scored their fifth goal was striking.
Andre Onana embraces Ruben Amorim after Harry Maguire’s winner (Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty Images)
Perhaps the even more revealing image was of Casemiro with his face planted on the turf from exhaustion and relief as Old Trafford bounced in celebration.
That just about summed up a breathless, unforgettable night.
This news was originally published on this post .
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