MANCHESTER, England — This isn’t one of the great Manchester United teams, but they will always be remembered as serving up one of the club’s greatest European nights.
United’s history has plenty of huge Champions League occasions under the lights at Old Trafford. This wasn’t one of them — and yet it was still filled with enough ups and downs, excitement and drama to stand among those famous clashes with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
The most important bit: United punched past Lyon on Thursday to secure a spot in the Europa League semifinals, and they’ve kept their season alive still.
How they got there will become the stuff of legend for the fans who were lucky enough to have a ticket. Played out amid an electric atmosphere from start to finish, Ruben Amorim’s team were cruising against Lyon at 2-0 up and were then pegged to 2-2.
A red card to Lyon midfielder Corentin Tolisso in regulation appeared to give United the advantage, only for Lyon to score twice in extra time to lead 4-2 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate to get the brink of reaching the last four.
Then, chaos. United somehow lifted themselves off the canvas to score three times in seven inexplicable minutes.
After Bruno Fernandes’ penalty, there were just 87 seconds between Kobbie Mainoo’s goal to make it 4-4 and Harry Maguire’s match-winner.
Each time the ball hit the net, the noise grew and grew until Maguire’s header deep into stoppage time in extra time lifted the proverbial roof off the stadium. The home fans bounced around the stands and the substitutes sprinted from the bench across the pitch to join in with the celebrations.
When the final whistle went a few moments later to seal a 5-4 win on the night and 7-6 on aggregate there was a cheer so loud that it threatened to bring Old Trafford to the ground.
United want to move away from their home of the last 115 years and into a new, more modern, venue. When it comes time to leave and to remember the greatest matches ever played here, the Europa League tie against Lyon in April 2025 will have its place.
“The sounds of the stadium was the best ever,” Amorim told TNT Sports. “Some people collect shirts, scarves, but I want to keep that sound, it’s the best sound in the world. I feel for the people who had to leave at 4-2 because of the traffic, they will be gutted.
“We know we are underperforming and deserve all the critics, but we have time to make something special of this season. It was a great night, the team were tired, 4-2 with one more player, we think it’s over, but here it’s never over.
“Here everything is possible — you feel the environment.”
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Nicol: We saw the good, bad and unbelievable from Manchester United
Steve Nicol reacts to a thrilling ending to Manchester United’s clash with Lyon as Ruben Amorim’s side advance into the Europa League semifinals.
When the euphoria dies down and Amorim’s heart rate finally settles, he will likely breathe a huge sigh of relief.
In the build-up before Thursday’s game, he was clear about what winning the Europa League can do for his revolution. Lifting a trophy is one thing, but playing Champions League football next season will make a huge difference to his summer transfer budget as he attempts to revamp his squad — a difference that is much needed.
The delirium of the night was only made possible because this United team are so flawed. How could they throw away a two-goal lead in normal time when they had such control? How could they then concede two goals in extra time against a Lyon team playing conservatively with 10 men and hoping for penalties?
These aren’t questions for Amorim to answer after such a thrilling game, but they will have to be addressed eventually.
“We must recognise the context,” admitted Amorim. “We lack a lot of characteristics in our team, physicality is a problem. When we play against European teams we can cope better with that, in the Premier League we suffer a lot.
“One moment can change a lot of things in the players’ minds — we have to be really focused on the Europa League and take risks sometimes with kids in the Premier League. Fans have to understand that, we have to focus on the Europa League.
“Everybody in this moment believes it is possible [to win it].”
For now the United coach can at least be happy that his players have the fight and character to give themselves a chance of getting their hands on some silverware in Bilbao on May 21.
First, there’s a two-legged semifinal against Athletic Club to negotiate and it will feel like a huge anti-climax to have gone to hell and back again against Lyon only to fall at the very next hurdle.
But then that is the beauty and the frustration of United this season. They are capable of beating Manchester City and losing to Wolves. They beat Arsenal and lost to West Ham.
The good, the bad and the ugly were all on show against Lyon to contribute to a game that will never be forgotten. It deserves to be part of a journey that leads to the Europa League final and a first trophy for United under Amorim.
But as he now knows better than anyone: with this Manchester United team you just never know.
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