Furious Manchester United fans are claiming that their side would not have been 1-0 down against Sevilla if Lisandro Martinez were playing ahead of Harry Maguire.
Maguire endured a nightmare start at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan on Thursday in United’s crucial second-leg Europa League quarter-final tie after he suffered a huge howler.
The 30-year-old United defender played the ball to David de Gea before receiving it back, with Maguire’s poorly placed pass being effortlessly intercepted by Erik Lamela.
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Youssef En-Nesyri collected the ball before he fired a cool low-shot finish past a helpless De Gea into the bottom left corner of the United net.
United, who blew a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford in the first leg last week, travelled to Spain without first-choice centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane.
United manager Erik ten Hag suffered a massive blow after Martinez was ruled out for the remainder of the season after he fractured a metatarsal bone in his foot.
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United fans brutally slammed Maguire on social media and claimed the mistake would never have happened if 2022 World Cup winner Martinez was able to play.
“That mistake with Maguire and De Gea won’t have happened with Martinez,” one fan said.
Someone else tweeted: “It’s only a mistake ‘cause Maguire made it one. If that was Martinez, he would’ve passed it back to David and David would’ve passed it to [Diogo] Dalot or AWB [Aaron Wan-Bissaka].”
A third added: “If De Gea plays that pass to Varane or Martinez, it’s dealt with no problem. His only mistake was thinking Maguire was someone he could rely on!”
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Another Twitter user posted: “Martinez calls for the same ball and plays out. Maguire does this and loses it and people blame De Gea. Crazy. We 100 per cent miss Martinez.”
“If that pass was to Varane or Martinez, it would still be 0-0. Don’t tell me Maguire isn’t the problem, Gary,” one fan said in response to Gary Neville.
While another commented: “So it’s De Gea’s fault that Maguire can’t do what Martinez did?”
Topics: Harry Maguire, Manchester United, Europa League, Sevilla, Football, Fan Reactions