De Gea and Maguire, Sevilla 3-0 Manchester United
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Ten Hag laments ‘bad decisions’ as Man Utd crash out of Europe with woeful display against Sevilla

Manchester United put in an absolutely shambolic performance as they crashed out of Europe, losing 5-2 on aggregate to Sevilla.

Manchester United looked to have given themselves a comfortable advantage having opened up a two goal advantage at Old Trafford last week, only to fall asleep in the closing stages and concede two own goals to leave the tie poised.

 

It was United’s fourth trip to Spain this season, and the Red Devils were unbeaten in their previous three Europa League fixtures against Real Sociedad, Barcelona and Real Betis.

However, in a raucous atmosphere in the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium, Sevilla took the lead in just the eighth minute. David de Gea played Harry Maguire into trouble, with the United captain then dispossessed on the edge of the box, before Youssef En-Nesyri slotted past the Spanish ‘keeper.

United were shocking in and out of possession, and were handed a reprieve as Sevilla had a goal chalked off for a marginal offside with five minutes of the first half to play.

Erik ten Hag brought Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw on at half-time, though within 90 seconds, Sevilla doubled their lead, a looping effort from Loic Bade beating De Gea.

Despite needing two goals just to take it to extra time, United barely laid a glove on the six-time Europa League winners, and in the 81st minute, there was another absolute howler at the back to make a 3-0. A clearance upfield should have been comfortably cleared by De Gea, only for the Spaniard – under no pressure – to make a complete hash of it, gifting the ball to En-Nesyri, who fired into an empty net from 30 yards.

Speaking after the game, Erik ten Hag appeared to point to a fragile mentality of his players to deal with the hostile atmosphere, saying his players made ‘bad decisions’ throughout the game.

“It’s clear. When you make such mistakes, it is very difficult to win a football game,” he told BT Sport. “I don’t know [if the atmosphere affected the performance], but it’s obvious that it can’t be. The fans can expect that we can deal with it. We have to do better. That is a demand.”

“We were not composed, we were not calm. Once you beat the press, there are huge spaces on the pitch, but we didn’t do it at the start and it was so obvious how to do it.

“[We made] Bad decisions. We lost the battles. They had more passion, more desire, and more willingness, for instance, the second goal. Then it is difficult to win big football games.”

While it has been an overall season of success for Ten Hag, it has been one that has been littered huge reality checks and dreadful performances along the way, and the Dutchman admitted it was a ‘problem’.

“It’s a problem, we can’t run away from it and we have to acknowledge it, but on Sunday we have another opportunity to work on that. We have to step up, show more character and personality.

“It’s not about them [who are missing]. It is about the ones on the pitch. They have to perform. I believe in them. I trust them, and they have to show. But today we were not good enough.

“We showed so many good performances [this season], good wins. But tonight – and we’ve had other occasions – where we were not ready for the game and that can’t be.

“When you are on this level, when you are playing for Manchester United, you have to be ready for every game. This was a great opportunity, a quarter-final in Europe. We have to blame ourselves.”

Next up for United, the small matter of an FA Cup semi-final against an in-form Brighton on Sunday.

Read – Six Premier League youngsters smashing it on loan this season

Read Also – Remembering Mourinho’s Man Utdd XI that Sevilla knocked out of the 2018 UCL

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