De Gea heroics sees Manchester United escape with draw

Published on: 21 February 2018

Manchester United escaped with a 0-0 draw at Sevilla in their Champions League round-of-16 first-leg tie on Wednesday.

Paul Pogba was unexpectedly named among the Manchester United substitutes to face the Spaniards before the match, with United boss Jose Mourinho telling reporters the former record transfer was not 100 percent.

The Portuguese boss instead chose a midfield trio of Nemanja Matic, Scott McTominay and Ander Herrera to start the match.

However, Herrera went down with an injury just 17 minutes into the match and Mourinho sent Pogba on in his place.

Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images

But he couldn't help stem the constant tide of Sevilla attacks in the first half, with only remarkable reaction saves from David De Gea -- especially on Luis Muriel's close-range header just before the break -- keeping the game scoreless at half-time.

Sevilla continued their procession toward the United goal in the second half, with Vincenzo Montella's team consistently breaking the initial press and setting up shop in the United half but failed to create crystal clear goal-scoring opportunities.

Manchester United brought on Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial late in an attempt to snatch a late winner from the Spaniards.

Romelu Lukaku looked to have edged United ahead in the 83rd minute when he settled, turned and fired past Sergio Rico from inside the box, but the goal was called out for a handball.

Source: espn.co.uk

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