Andre Onana’s worst nightmares came true with a horror display against a Lyon side who had it in for him.
The Manchester United goalkeeper made two very avoidable errors in the 2-2 Europa League quarter-final draw.
His second, in the final seconds of the game, cost United the lead heading back to Old Trafford for the second leg next Thursday.
Onana spilt a shot in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time which Rayan Cherki pounced on and dinked in to equalise.
The error came after he allowed Thiago Almada’s cross to drift all the way into his own net for a 25th minute opener.
Between the Lyon goals Leny Yoro scored his first for the club and Joshua Zirkzee grabbed another off the bench, but their goalkeeper will steal all the headlines.
Not only has Onana now made nine errors leading to goals since the start of last season – more than any Premier League player in all competitions – but it comes after a war of words with Lyon’s Nemanja Matic.
The former Red Devil went after Onana after he labelled United favourites for the tie, and spectacularly called him ‘one of the worst goalkeepers in Manchester United’s history’.
Matic spent the match on the bench, but after seeing Onana’s two errors, talkSPORT’s Troy Deeney surmised the situation.
“The football Gods have told you, ‘stay humble, stay in your place’,” he said.
“With these type of comments you need to be in a good vein of form. When you see the two goals, it’s amateur hour.
“You feel like you’ve come away from home and it couldn’t have gone any better.
CBSOnana let the first float straight it, perhaps expecting a touch that didn’t come[/caption]
“Your goalkeeper time and time again is letting you down. That is not the sign of a good goalkeeper.”
Onana joined United in 2023 from Inter straight after helping them to the Champions League final.
Joining for £43.8million made him the third most expensive goalkeeper of all time, but his career hasn’t gone swimmingly so far.
An undisputed first choice under Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, both have had to defend the occasional error, which the Portuguese did again after the latest.
“It’s important to focus on the next game for the league and then second leg,” he said.
“When one player has a mistake, the whole teams makes a mistake.”
Asked if Onana could be dropped, Amorim added: “We continue to do the same thing.”
