In a game where José Mourinho managed to outwit himself by starting Marouane Fellaini whilst leaving footballers like Juan Mata, Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay on the bench, the first half crawled by.
United played like a team who were 4-0 up from the first leg, not a team who needed to score to get through!
Sevilla weren’t much better but at least knew that if they could score on the break then United would need two. The problem was that neither team appeared to realise that they needed to score!
Eventually a pathetic Manchester United performance was punished by two late goals from Sevilla which, deservedly, took them through to the quarter finals despite a late reply from Lukaku.
The team selection was wrong, the tactics were wrong and a few of this United team need replacing because they are wrong. Let the inquest begin!
Rewind to Stoke…..
Meanwhile, in the not too distant past Manchester City went to Stoke on a night which wasn’t wet, cold or windy or any other adjective usually associated with the city and came away with three points.
In a totally expected 2-0 win City were imperious as they have been for much of the season and David Silva has now decided to add regular goalscoring to his vast repertoire.
David Silva – Another two goals against Stoke City
If City beat Everton in the last game of March they can win the title at The Etihad the following week when they play guess who? Correct, Manchester United. A lot of supporters will be having a look at the odds on that one with NetBet UK.
As Pep Guardiola was quick to point out though, it is hardly relevant where they are playing at the time. It also doesn’t matter who they are playing when they are officially declared champions and the fact that it could be United is totally meaningless.
Whenever they do win the title and against whomever they are playing, it has been a remarkable season. The battle for second place has been far more interesting to watch but City have retained a massive audience just because of the way they play the game.
Usually, when a leader runs away with the race the viewing public get bored and start to look elsewhere for entertainment but even the race for second, whilst interesting, hasn’t produced anything like the football which City serve up on a regular basis.
A quick word for Chelsea who now cannot catch City and have officially been ruled out of the title race; TOUGH. There, how’s that for a word?
And finally…..
Jamie Carragher comes across as being very contrite having just spat a short distance from the driving seat of his car into the car of a Manchester United supporter and his daughter.
Spitting at somebody is and always has been a vile habit and is one every schoolboy is aware of. The school playgrounds always had at least one boy who thought that spitting was cool and that spitting at other boys was even cooler.
Normally though, these boys grew up, left school and got on with life and the spitting habit disappeared with a little age and maturity.
Jamie Carragher – Not behaviour entirely unexpected from an ex-football player, but still disappointing
Jamie Carragher is now like the boy who has been caught spitting at another boy in the playground. He is sitting in the headmaster’s office trying his best to come up with a believable lie to convince his accusers that it was someone else and he wasn’t actually there.
The problem is that the United supporter, obviously surprised at who he was able to hold a cross-lane conversation with, was filming it on his phone, no doubt for posterity. So no amount of invented stories were going to get Carragher off the hook. No, he had to do what he had to do. Apologise and hope that he would just be given a hundred lines and detention for a week.
It doesn’t appear that he will lose his job over this episode but few people will look at him in the same light again. Any respect he may have had for his punditry skills, which are minimal, will surely have been lost so it will be a difficult return to the screen if and when he makes it.
There is, of course, always an opening for idiots on Bein Sport where he could join the sexist pairing of Richard Keys and Andy Gray who, rather than falling on their faces when sacked by Sky, fell squarely on their feet.
Maybe he should just go on holiday to Never Never Land until next season and try and work out why he has never really grown up.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 