Harry Maguire and Manchester United ‘devastated’ by Europa League loss

Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes were left ruing what could have been after their Europa League dreams came to a crashing end in Manchester United’s latest semi-final loss.
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes kneels on the ground at the end of an Europa League semi-final loss to Sevilla. Pic by AP.Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes kneels on the ground at the end of an Europa League semi-final loss to Sevilla. Pic by AP.
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes kneels on the ground at the end of an Europa League semi-final loss to Sevilla. Pic by AP.

United became the first ever top-flight English side to lose semi-finals in three different competitions within the same season on Sunday, when they squandered an early lead in Cologne as Sevilla secured a late 2-1 comeback win and shot at glory.

“It’s difficult (to take),” United skipper Maguire said. “The boys are devastated in there.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We created numerous amounts of chances. We’ve got to win the game. The best team lost and they punished us for missing the chances. We’ve been ruthless at times this year, but today we weren’t.

“It means a lot to us. The boys are devastated. We’ve got a good group of lads. We know what it means to play for this club: losing isn’t acceptable.

“Getting to semi-finals isn’t acceptable. We’ve got to now really concentrate on taking it further, taking another step.”

Maguire’s sentiments were echoed by Fernandes, whose ninth-minute spot-kick had got United off to a dream start.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was more than an impressive performance, it was a great game,” Fernandes told BT Sport. “We created a lot of chances, but in football it’s not enough.

“When you create chances you need to finish, you need to score and today we missed a lot in front of goal.

“Now it’s time to rest, to refresh the legs and think of next season.”

--

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world.

But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.