Andre Onana did little to hit back at Nemanja Matic’s claims of being one of Manchester United’s worst-ever goalkeepers as a pair of errors helped Lyon to a 2-2 draw in their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Onana was embroiled in a war of words with the former Man Utd player in the build-up to the game but compounded the now-Lyon midfielder’s put-down with two weak saves leading directly to both of Lyon’s goals.
The goalkeeper had seemingly inadvertently begun the very public row by claiming Man Utd were the better of the two sides, before Matic responded during a press conference on Wednesday: “If you are one of the worst ‘keepers in Manchester United history, you need to take care.”
Onana’s first error saw him palm Thiago Almada’s curling free-kick into the top corner before goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee – the latter three minutes from time – looked to have taken the heat off the Cameroonian goalkeeper.
But worse was to come. His ninth error leading to a goal in a Man Utd shirt was perhaps his most painful, spilling Georges Mikautadze’s effort at the feet of Rayan Cherki to allow Lyon to level with less than 30 seconds of injury-time left.
It means Man Utd will now have to beat Lyon in the return leg in seven days’ time to progress, but it could have been so different.
Yoro’s first goal for the club, glancing in Manuel Ugarte’s rising effort on the stroke of half-time, was the least they deserved at the interval before substitute Zirkzee provided the perfect response to being dropped with a powerful header from Bruno Fernandes’ cross for what appeared to be the winner.
But after Onana’s latest mistake in an increasingly difficult personal season, the heat will be placed firmly back on the Man Utd No 1 for costing his team a valuable first-leg victory.
More to follow…
