Lyon, April 11 (IANS) Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has said he is really confident in Andre Onana despite the goalkeeper making errors that helped Lyon earn a last-gasp 2-2 UEFA Europa League quarterfinals draw.
Amorim’s side was denied victory in the first leg after a dramatic finish in Lyon, on a night when under-fire goalkeeper Onana was at fault for both goals.
Onana’s first mistake allowed Thiago Almada’s crossed free-kick to somehow find its way in at the far post. The second, in the last moments of added time, Onana spilled a shot he really ought to have held and Lyon’s young prodigy Rayan Cherki tapped in the equaliser. At that point, United were leading through Joshua Zirkzee’s 87th-minute header, which followed Leny Yoro’s equaliser.
In the post-match press conference, when Amorim was asked what he would say to Onana, he replied. “We have training; go with Vital and we deal with that. So I’m really natural; that can happen with any player. There’s nothing I can say to Andre in this moment that will help him. So the most important thing is to be natural. And then when the time comes, I will choose the best 11 to play. But I’m really confident in Andre.”
“It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes. If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months,” he added.
Onana’s errors came after his pre-game war of words with Lyon’s former United midfielder Nemanja Matic, who branded Onana as “one of the worst goalkeepers” in the Red Devils’ history in response to Cameroonian’s claim that United were “far better” than their French opponents.
When asked if Onana was distracted because of the crowd, Amorim said, “I don’t know, that can happen. The best thing is to look at the goals and all the actions that Andre has had in the game and to talk with (goalkeeper coaches Jorge) Vital and Craig (Mawson). This is the best way to help any player – to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put the player (in) again.”
“I used these minutes to try to calm down, to come here to say the right things. But it’s normal. And I think it felt really quiet, the dressing room. And that is a good thing. We draw away in Europe. That’s always hard. The team is suffering, but we need to change that and we have the opportunity to change. So let’s focus on that,” he added.
The second leg of the quarterfinal takes place at Old Trafford on April 18 (IST). The winner will face the winners of the Rangers vs Athletic Club tie in the semi-finals.
–IANS
bc/ab
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