Move over Barcelona, you have been eclipsed. The SAS (Sheringham and Solksjaer) deposed by MAM (Mainoo and Maguire). The absense of Roy Keane outweighed by being 4-2 down against 10 men.
Peter Schmeichel’s cartwheel being replaced by Andre Onana running over to celebrate with manager Ruben Amorim and cramping up in the process.
ITV commentator Clive Tyldsley’s pondering of “Can Manchester United score? They always score” giving way to Rio Ferdinand nearly falling out of the commentary gantry after the much maligned Maguire again proved his dedication and value to to the club in not so much spades but grain buckets.
Firstly, by ensuring a clean sheet in the first half as goals from Manuel Ugarte and Diogo Dalot appeared to have United in a position to book the tickets to Bilbao for the semi final.
Maybe with a different incarnation of the Red Devils. Now, you couldn’t predict 3.00pm at 2.45. As if to underscore that fact, Lyon hit four goals without reply to go from 2-0 down to 4-2 up.
Which at that point promoted Ferdinand to describe the capitulation of those in red as “An embarrassment”. We all have a tipping point though. Where preservation of our dignity and a rebuttle of constant castigation stir a soul into action.
And, even watching on television, you could almost sense Maguire and Casemiro and Bruno and the introduced Kobbie Mainoo demonstrably said to themselves “F*** this, we can’t sink, or let this club sink, any further”.
Yes, they had a bit of luck on their side, because the penalty which Bruno converted was more mushy peas than hard boiled egg in its constitution.
But getting a slice of luck is one thing, having the nous and/or the balls to know how to utilise it is entirely another. That goes for management and players.
For all that, Ruben Amorim has been castigated repeatedly during his time thus far in charge of United – sometimes with merit – but on this occasion, the simplest, supposedly most old fashioned, alteration he made ended up being a managerial masterstroke which probably not only saved the club’s season but his own job to boot.
His lightbulb moment? Throw Harry Maguire up front and lamp long, high balls in his general direction and hope for the best. It worked too, in varying ways.
Whether that was causing enough chaos in the build up to the penalty, doing likewise prior to Mainoo’s manic equaliser or dispatching the bullet header which nearly began the demolition process along Sir Matt Busby way ahead of schedule!
It surely must rank as one of, if not the greatest night of football ever played in what was once Newton Heath. Personally, having been intermittently playing into the wind of late from the point of view of the spirits in the control tower between the shoulders, it was good for the heart…Eventually, when the blood pumping organ settled down where it was meant to be after going crossways for a while!
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