Romelu Lukaku scored one goal for United but it wasn’t enough. (Source: Reuters)
Sevilla fans will be celebrating late into the night, their club has, after all won a match in England for the very first time and the team at the receiving end of that defeat are none other than Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. Mourinho’s decisions to leave out Juan Mata from the starting line up will be one that will hotly debated alongwith whether he can ever get the superstars of his team to play together in harmony. It is, however the end of the Champions League road for Manchester United. With the Premier League also practically out of reach, they can finally use all their resources to try and win the FA Cup again. It did mean a lot to big teams even as recently as in the 90’s.
Manchester United vs Sevilla, Champions League Round of 16 highlights:
Mourinho would certainly be getting ready for his most effective defensive responses to questions on the team that he played for this match and the attitudes of some of the players on the pitch. We will be bringing in the reports and reactions from this match. For now, we leave you with this image
And that is the end of the Champions League road for Manchester United. Sevilla, whose last Champions League game in England ended in a defeat to Leicester City, have gone on to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford. Ben Yedder came in the 73rd minute for the woeful Luis Muriel and the match was never the same since then. In the end, there was some rather strange football with Sevilla, despite the team defending a lead, choosing not to hold on to the ball and United, despite having at least eight players in the box, unable to find even a single one of them. It was a rather strange night at Old Trafford and most of the match was devoid of any quality whatsoever. But no one would remember that as it had a nail-biter of a finish after Lukaku pulled one back. It is back to the drawing board for Jose Mourinho
Very strange football now. Sevilla unable to hold on to the ball and United unable to find their players inside the box more than eight attackers being there.
Alexis Sanchez floats in a cross from the right and Rashford meets it, the header is off target. This match has turned into a thriller.
Corner floated in by Rashford, it touches inside of Matic's foot before bouncing and Lukaku volleys it into goal. Game's not over yet
Alexis passes it Mata on the right and the Spaniard cuts it in, Lukaku at the end of it and he gets it over the bar. Ben Yedder gets a yellow card for his celebration. He has been on for about 7 minutes and he has fot two goals and a yellow card. United now need to score three goals to go through
And another and that could well be the end of the match. Ben Yedder coming for Luis Muriel has turned out to be the move of the match. A corner that is shoddily defended by United ends up becoming a free header for Yedder and he turns it in.
A good finish for a change and Yedder gets it past De Gea and now, United have to score two goals in 15 minutes. Ben Yedder, who has been on the pitch for just over a minute, receives a brilliant pass from Sarabia, takes a touch to his right and unleashes a low shot and De Gea is beaten.
Pogba takes the ball in the midfield and takes a shot. It misses the target by around three feet, better than most shots today, although they haven;t exactly been the gold standard
United win a free kick left side of the box and Marcus Rashford tries to curl it into the far post, the ball ends up going about 5 feet above bar. Sevilla win a free kick seconds later and Sarabia floats it into the pocket in the box where there is no one to claim it
Marcus Rashford brings the ball into the box brilliantly and passes to Alexis Sanchez who takes an extra touch before taking the shot. That touch proves costly and Sevilla block it away. They then counter and Banega delivers into the box from the right but Muriel is blocked away by the brilliant Bailly
Lukaku loses the ball in midfield, gets it back annd puts the ball into the box to find Lingard, takes a touch to the right and shoots, the keeper makes the save and the ball then goes to Rashford who puts it back in but there is no one in the box to receive it
Correa found himself with the ball inside the box at the end of a quick Sevilla attack that caught out the United defence. Just as he was positioning himself for the shot, Bailly comes in and wraps his foot around Correa to clear the danger. It is the kind of tackle that can win you matches.
Not the most entertaining 45 minutes of football you would ever see. United have been more precise with their attacks, Sevilla have been absolutely awful. The end result is the same, there are no goals to show. At the moment though, it is hard to say which of these two sides deserve to qualify and whether they would last even 10 minutes in the quarterfinals playing like this. But United have been the better team because Sevilla have done things like these: A minute before the whistle, N'Zonzi takes a shot at least 30 yards away from goal, it goes flying over the bar and certainly ended up hitting a poor kid on the face sitting at the upper tiers of the Stretford End. And there have been a number of wayward shots like that.
Five minites left and now United are dominating the proceedings. Alexis Sanchez cuts in from the left but ends up running into Sevilla shirts and loses the ball. He could have passed it to Lingard who was free to his right.
Both sides have disappointing in the final third but Sevilla especially have been especially appalling. They have taken eight wayward shots so far and the one that was on target was rolled to De Gea by Muriel.
Matic puts a ball into the box but Lukaku was unable to get to it before the keeper did, replays show that he was slightly offside. Moments later, Marcus Rashford runs past a sliding Sevilla player like he doesn't exist down the right flank before losing the ball
The crowd has gone a little silent and the team also are somewhat allowing Sevilla put pressure on them. Mourinho is having none of that nonsense and starts blasting instructions from the touchline. He obviously doesn't want to end up like a certain former Crystal Palace manager
United have tapered off a bit and Sevilla are taking advantage and fizzing off at the final third. Vazquez receives the ball just outside the box at an awkward angle and takes the shot. It is way off target
Ever Banega floats in a corner from the left and it finds Joaquin Correa whose header goes just over the bar and dances on the roof of the net. David De Gea had it covered though, which means it wouldn't have made too much of a difference if it was on target. Marcus Rashford later pushes Escudero while fighting for the ball. No foul given though.
Jesse Lingard crosses from the left and almost finds Lukaku in the box but Sevilla's Kjaer shows his strength and prevents the Belgian from getting to it. United have looked very smooth in these opening exchanges.
Manchester United kick off the match at Old Trafford and United also creat an early chance. Lukaku, though ends up skying that first attempt from just outside the box
Manchester United: de Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Bailly, Young, Fellaini, Matic, Lingard, Sanchez, Rashford, Lukaku.Subs: Romero, Lindelof, Pogba, Mata, Martial, Darmian, McTominay.
Sevilla: Sergio Rico, Mercado, Kjaer, Lenglet, Escudero, Nzonzi, Banega, Sarabia, Vazquez, Correa, Muriel.Subs: Soria, Ben Yedder, Geis, Pizarro, Pareja, Nolito, Guilherme Arana.
Sevilla have never made it past the Round of 16. They have never beaten an English team away from home in a competitive match. They have had two big defeats in the days after their 0-0 draw against Manchester United back home and now they are tasked with beating them at Old Trafford, something only the seemingly unstoppable Manchester City have done this season. At the same time, it is to be noted that Burnley have managed to get a draw here too. Football is a funny game and history and statistics do mean little between kick off and the final whistle. But Old Trafford will be buzzing and Sevilla winning would be the footballing equivalent of swimming upstream. Unless United play horrendously that is.