United score three in extra-time to secure sensational win over Lyon

Quarter-final 2nd leg

Manchester United 5-4 Lyon AET (Agg. 7-6)

RUBEN Amorim and Manchester United won, lost and then, incredibly, won this Europa League tie with ten-man Lyon again, to keep alive their season and book a semi-final tie with Athletic Bilbao.

Harry Maguire settled things in the final minute of extra-time, heading in Casemiro’s cross to make it 5-4 on the night – 7-6 overall – after Rayan Cherki and Alexandre Lacazette looked to have settled it the other way.

Despite being outmanned – literally, due to a late red card in normal time – the French side enjoyed the better of extra-time early and, in the 104th minute, Malick Fofana’s break on goal was halted by Diogo Dalot on the edge of the United area.

Cherki picked up the loose ball and, with home defenders slow to react, switched feet before planting a left-foot shot into the far corner from just inside the box, apparently ending United’s catastrophic season, in the process.

Fofana was not finished. Early in the second period, he pounced on a Casemiro mistake, ghosted into the area and was hacked down by substitute Luke Shaw. Former Arsenal striker Lacazette gave the keeper no chance from the penalty.

But the drama was far from finished, with Bruno Fernandes pulling the score back to 6-5 on aggregate, striking in a 114th minute penalty after Casemiro had been tripped by Thiago Almada.

And five minutes later, the game was all square, on the night and on aggregate, when Casemiro picked out Kobbie Mainoo and the youngster curled in an unstoppable finish; switching the momentum once and for all and allowing Maguire his moment to savour.

After leading through goals from Manuel Ugarte and Diogo Dalot, United did their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as they allowed the French visitors to storm back, with two goals in the space of six minutes.

Corentin Tolisso had scored the first on 71 minutes, pulling the game back to 2-1 on the night, before disaster struck and Lyon squared things up through Nicolas Tagliafico.

By that stage, United’s defence and discipline were in meltdown, a shot from Ainsley Maitland-Niles flashed across goal, Tagliafico stabbed towards goal and Andre Onana appeared to have made a heroic goalline stop before Lacazette tapped in the rebound. Replays showed the first effort had gone in, in any case.

Tolisso, to add to the drama, did not end the game, with his second yellow, on 89 minutes for a foul on Leny Yoro, reducing Lyon to ten men.

Yet the start and end of the first half could not have gone better for United although, in between, they found themselves involved in one of the more watchable of their Europa League ties this season.

That owed much to poor defending – Yoro above all others – but the interval arrived with Amorim and his team with a 2-0 lead, and one foot firmly in the semifinals.

The opener came on 10 minutes from a superbly-worked United goal which ended with Bruno Fernandes finding Alejandro Garnacho in the area and the winger darting forwards, taking out two defenders in the process, and feinting to take a shot.

Instead the youngster squared for Ugarte who smacked in an unstoppable shot from 12 yards to give United the lead on the night, and 3-2 on aggregate.

It appeared that Amorim’s gamble to de-prioritise the league, in favour of Europe, was about to pay dividends, although it took until the first minute of first half stoppage time for his side to double their lead.

Harry Maguire floated a long ball forward, Dalot shrugged off Tagliafico – illegally, claimed Lyon, to no avail – and drilled a shot in via the far post.

It was a commanding lead for the Premier League side, although it may not have been. On 22 minutes, Onana, at fault for both goals in the 2-2 first leg draw, made a fine stop in turning over a powerful Paul Akouokou header, from Ryan Cherki’s corner.

Maitland-Niles fluffed a glorious opening just after the half-hour after Yoro had made a hash of dealing with Tagliafico’s cross and Cherki’s incredible run took him past Patrick Dorgu, Casemiro and Yoro before he unleashed a low shot which Onana saved well.

Yet United probably deserved their interval lead on balance. Shortly after the opening goal, Garnacho hurried Tolisso off the ball and set up Casemiro for a low shot which Lucas Perri did well to turn around his post for a corner.

And, astonishingly, after 35 minutes, Dalot’s long ball forward floated 50 yards, over the shoulder of Fernandes who struck a sublime first-time volley that thundered against the Lyon bar.

The tie, most decidedly, was not over and Lyon responded when Tagliafico set up Tolisso who spun before producing a shot which Onana, again, proved equal to with a fine reflex save. Sure enough, as Lyon supporters lite flares in the visitors’ end of the ground, their team made an explosive contribution of their own with a 71st minute goal that threw the tie into chaos.

Casemiro headed a Lyon free-kick, but only as far as Moussa Niakhate who nodded back into the danger zone, where substitute Lacazette flicked on for Tolisso to head home from six yards. Three headers, all largely unchallenged, had brought the aggregate back to 4-3.

Onana continued a fine night soon after, throwing himself to keep out Maitland-Niles’ strike at the start of a frantic finale. Little did we know how frantic it would be.

Tonight’s other Europa League results:

• Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Rangers (Agg. 2-0)
• Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Agg. 1-2)
• SS Lazio 3-1 FK Bodø/Glimt (Agg. 3-3 Bodo win 3-2 on penalties)