Andre Onana, who has received plenty of criticism following his arrival from Inter Milan, brilliantly saved the spot-kick to guarantee the three points for the Red Devils.
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Manchester United had to dig deep to get their first win of the ongoing Champions League season this midweek. The Red Devils overcame a poor first-half display to get past FC Copenhagen in a dramatic fashion. United upped the tempo in the second half and created multiple chances before Harry Maguire scored the only goal of the game from a Christian Eriksen cross. However, there was late drama when the visitors were given a penalty in the dying seconds of the game.
Andre Onana, who has received plenty of criticism following his arrival from Inter Milan in the summer, brilliantly saved the spot-kick to guarantee the three points for the Red Devils. “You know if you don’t score that goal, they can have one opportunity. But honestly, I couldn’t believe it when the referee gave a penalty. It was an incredibly soft one to give away – I actually don’t think he [McTominay] touched him in the end. But it was a big save, a big moment by a big goalkeeper and he deserves that,” Maguire told the club media.
He then went on to talk about Onana’s crucial injury-time save for Manchester United. “Playing for this club, there’s ups and downs and when you win everybody’s on top of the world, and when you lose there’s a crisis and it’s always someone’s fault. Andre is a big personality and he’ll get used to it. He’s going to be a big player for this club. It’s a short career that he’s had until now and of course there’s been a lot of scrutiny. But we’ve been giving him far too much to deal with as a defence. So I know it’s a big moment for him. And it’s not only a penalty save, it’s a really high-standard penalty save. It’s a great save. I’m really pleased for him.”
Harry Maguire shifted the attention to the match and went on to explain how it was a game of two halves. “The first half was nowhere near good enough. We spoke about it at half-time and the second half was a lot better – we looked comfortable, we played with a big tempo, a big intensity, and we should have scored three, four or five goals with the amount of chances we created and the talent we have at the top end of the pitch,” he explained.
The big centre-half also spoke about his goal, which proved to be the winner in the end. “It was an amazing ball [from Eriksen]. It was really tough to get on the end of something from a corner tonight – the big centre-half kept heading them all away. But it was a second phase, it was nice and I knew I had the beating of the man who was picking me up,” he stated.
He added: “And it was just about the delivery, which made it easy for me to head it in. I just knew I had to hit the target from so close. It was an amazing feeling to score in front of the Stretford End in the Champions League and it was a big moment for myself, but more importantly, a big moment for the team.”
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