Sport

André Onana’s emotional reaction at full-time turns fan frustration into sympathy after another Man United UCL collapse

More than a few people have now dubbed Onana 'the new Maguire'.

Danny Jones - 30th November 2023

André Onana has had a rocky start to life at Manchester United and while supporters have been left swearing from the stands and at their TV screens several times already this season, his reaction at full-time following his latest howler has seen much of that frustration turn to sympathy.

The Cameroonian goalkeeper made yet another costly error on Wednesday night when his lack of concentration saw Man United’s 2-0 lead, thanks to two very fine finishes from Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes, somehow turn to 3-1 and eventually 3-3 — two of which were very preventable.

Onana was left unsighted by the wall and wrong-footed for the first goal which was whipped in from a Hakim Ziyech free-kick, but was left blushing even more when an almost identical delivery was fired at him in the second half, only to effectively push it into his own net and reduce the Red Devil’s two-goal cushion to one.

As commentator Darren Fletcher and pretty much everyone watching said at the time, “What on Earth is the Manchester United keeper doing there?!”. It really doesn’t make for great viewing…

Having now allowed the Turkish side to get back into the game in a similarly avoidable turnaround as in the reverse leg at Old Trafford, when the 27-year-old’s misplaced pass out from the back resulted in Casemiro getting sent off in a last-ditch tackle and United conceding a third after going down to 10 men.

Although mistakes like these could be forgiven in isolation, as one-offs or more widely spread out over a longer period of — many Reds had grown accustomed to watching their previous number one, David de Gea, making a gaffe or two in his time — for all of them to happen in the space of just a few months doesn’t help.

In the Champions League alone, Onana has seven individual unforced errors leading to goals (four more than any other player) and in a knockout competition against the best teams in Europe, you simply don’t have enough games to make up for mistakes like that.

That being said, as opposed to the usual reaction from supporters on social media that we have seen so far this season, a large proportion of fans and neutrals alike weren’t berating him but were instead expressing their sympathy — especially after seeing Onana‘s visibly upset reaction after full-time:

Read more:

• Erling Haaland breaks yet another goalscoring record in the Champions League
• Watch the cute moment a couple gets engaged during half-time at a Macclesfield FC game
• Garnacho gives the same boots he scored his overhead kick with to a young United fan

Writing up a piece after yet another UCL collapse from Erik ten Hag’s side, with Onana having more than a hand in virtually all of them, The Athletic described the mocking the misfortune shot-stopper as a “mix of the exceptional and the excruciating — much like Manchester United“.

On the other hand, not everyone was so forgiving and to further sum up how things are going for the United keeper, both in terms of his bad luck and the pity plenty are now starting to feel for him, there were countless posts online dubbing him “the new [Harry] Maguire”, who had previously been a scapegoat and a target of abuse at both club and international level.

In contrast, while the England centre-backs’s performances have started to improve, a goalkeeper’s mistakes are always going to be even more highlighted as although defenders usually have the man between the sticks as a last stand, when it goes wrong it usually results in conceding a goal.

Here’s hoping the Onana pile-on doesn’t start to mirror his teammate’s, as the level of abuse Maguire was receiving at its height was simply ridiculous. You can watch the highlights of Galatasaray vs Man United in full down below:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — TNT Sports