During Manchester United’s Europa League clash against Sevilla, Harry Maguire, and David de Gea had a moment to forget.
On Thursday night, United visited the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan with the aim of securing a place in the competition’s semi-final.
However, their match got off to the worst possible start as they fell behind early due to a catastrophic mishap between Maguire and De Gea.
Just seven minutes into the match, De Gea played a risky pass to Maguire, who was positioned on the edge of the penalty area.
Sevilla’s Erik Lamela quickly pounced on the opportunity and forced Maguire into making a mistake.
The ball fell perfectly into the path of striker Youssef En Nesyri, who calmly slotted it hard and low into the back of De Gea’s net.
Initially, many fans blamed De Gea for playing the ball to Maguire in that position.
Nightmare start for Man Utd! 😳
It’s a mix-up at the back that gifts Sevilla the lead…#UEL pic.twitter.com/PwGAQAjcys
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 20, 2023
However, the replays showed that Maguire did in fact ask his goalkeeper to pass him the ball.
Fans were quick to react on social media.
One said: “For everyone that’s blaming De Gea, Maguire asked for the ball.”
Another tweeted: “Don’t Blame De Gea. Harry Maguire asked for the ball under No Pressure.”
A third fan added: “Maguire asked for the ball, and when it was given, he didn’t know what to do with it.”
Someone else wrote: “Maguire asked for the ball to pass it straight to them HE IS NOT SERIOUS.”
Whilst a fifth commented: “Wasn’t De Gea’s fault at all. Maguire asked for the ball, De Gea gave him a good ball.”
Harry Maguire asked for the ball before giving it away for Sevilla’s opener 🙃 pic.twitter.com/CSbeCPZpJF
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 20, 2023
After the half-time interval, Ten Hag made a double change as he brought on Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw in order to get his team back into the match.
However, just two minutes into the second half, United’s task got a whole lot harder.
A corner swung in by Ivan Rakitic was flicked into the back of the net by Loic Bade.
Replays seemed to show that De Gea could have probably done a little more to prevent that from going into the back of the net.
United now have a huge mountain if they are to advance to the last four of the Europa League.