In the entirety of Manchester United’s storied relationship with European football, Old Trafford has never witnessed a sight like the immediate aftermath of Harry Maguire’s winning goal against Lyon. It was a portrait of pandemonium.
There have been bigger games, better opponents, more meaningful results, but the explosion of emotion inside the stadium as United pulled off an unprecedented comeback created a unique spectacle where fans, players and staff gave in to primal instincts.
A tapestry of carnage.#MUFC pic.twitter.com/vlD6l0Bmpr
— Laurie Whitwell (@lauriewhitwell) April 17, 2025
United should not have put themselves in that position. Cruising at 2-0, they collapsed in familiar fashion, conceding two goals in quick succession, then somehow responded to Lyon going down to 10 men by playing with even more jitters in extra time and slipping 4-2 behind.
The clock showed eight minutes left as United toiled. Each second drew closer into view a picture of blank midweeks next season, fraught financial dealings in the summer, dead rubbers for the rest of this campaign, and fresh focus on Ruben Amorim and the executives above. Anxiety spread.
That is the context for the most unfettered, joyous, headless celebration this great old ground has seen, at the moment Maguire, playing as a makeshift striker, nodded in, 34 seconds past the allotted 120 minutes, to secure a 5-4 win on the night for a 7-6 aggregate victory.
Such was the kaleidoscope of movement, it required the sharpest of eyes and multiple viewings of video footage to track all the strands of ecstasy.
Alejandro Garnacho, having been replaced, went sprinting from the substitutes bench across the grass as if he hadn’t just run himself into the ground for 100 minutes, diving head first into the crowd by the corner flag like the lead singer in a rock band, engulfed in adoring arms.
HARRY MAGUIRE DOES IT AGAIN! 🚨
Man United have completed the comeback ✅
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/mcNnClCikl
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 17, 2025
Casemiro, a man with five Champions League winner’s medals, fell flat to the floor, his face pressed into the turf, and flapped like a seal. It was his two quality assists that had been decisive.
Andre Onana wheeled away from his area, arms spread wide, and jogged all the way to Amorim to wrap in an embrace the head coach who had dropped him for the trip to Newcastle United last weekend following his mistakes in Lyon in the first leg. As odd as it sounds when conceding four goals, Onana responded well and made two big saves.
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Kobbie Mainoo, who had scored the 120th-minute leveller, welcomed a pitch invader in close and was lifted off the ground in response.
Luke Shaw was on his knees on the advertising boards, soaking in the mayhem. Mason Mount joined in, as did academy players Harry Amass, Jaydan Kamason, Godwill Kukonki, and Jack Moorhouse. Amass, making his Europa League debut, and Moorhouse, hoping for his debut in the coming weeks, shared a hug.
Maguire’s goal sparks bedlam at Old Trafford (Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
By now, Garnacho had escaped the melee and was giddily skipping away up the pitch and punching the air. There was, perhaps, relief in his reaction, too, having squandered a chance to make the match 3-0 that would have been scored eight times out of 10 by the average player, according to Opta.
Maguire, the man of the hour, prowled the perimeter, staring into the sea of limbs as if looking for something else to put his head on.
Eventually, Manuel Ugarte caught him and wrapped him in a bear hug. Rasmus Hojlund followed, as the pitch invader was being escorted off by stewards in the background.
Former midfielder Darren Fletcher, shaking his head, made his exit from the analysts’ seats to get down to the dressing room for a post-match debrief that defied much analysis.
Diogo Dalot and Mount hugged Maguire, who celebrated again, fist clenched, when confirmation came he would not be penalised for a small push on Moussa Niakhate.
Maguire after his goal was confirmed (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
As Amorim and his assistants tried to communicate plans, Mount directed Maguire to trade his centre-forward role for centre-back, not that the former United captain had any intentions to stay up in search of a sixth goal.
Fans around the directors’ box turned to goad Lyon executives, who had celebrated wildly at going 3-2 and 4-2 up. Lyon owner John Textor, who is also the main shareholder at Crystal Palace, was caught in the crossfire.
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In the Stretford End, where 850 hospitality seats were ripped out last summer, more than 25 years after their installation, shirtless fans stood on seats, nearly falling over each other, the perfect advert for why they wished to reclaim Old Trafford’s famous stand. The noise was nuclear.
Mainoo’s goal had been a dress rehearsal, with Dalot chest-bumping Amorim then sat on the grass swamped by the young unused substitutes. Leny Yoro dropped to his knees pointing up to the night sky in divine gratitude. Maguire looked to the sidelines to ask his position and was told by Amorim to stay high. Maguire was then like a coiled spring on the halfway line waiting for the whistle for kick-off and bursting ahead when it blew.
Amorim jumps for joy after Maguire’s goal (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
As Amorin told TNT Sports after the game: “If you see the goals from Kobbie and Harry Maguire, the sound of the stadium was the best sound I’d ever heard. You want to keep that. People want to keep a lot of things, (like) shirts. And I just want to keep that sound, it’s the best sound in the world.”
The visuals recalled to mind another famous picture of carnage in Manchester, when drunken revellers on New Year’s Eve 2015 were photographed tangling with police on the streets outside the Printworks. That scene was compared to Renaissance art, compelling for its honest depiction of people enjoying life to excess. There were parallels with Old Trafford 10 years on, and not just because fans will hope this result sparks a rebirth for United.
Who wants to see a thread of absolute LIMBS? ❤️
Here you go… 👇#MUFC || #UEL pic.twitter.com/0nmz3EL5RN
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 17, 2025
To balance the bedlam, some involved needed to be calm. Captain Bruno Fernandes walked back to United’s half as Lyon players protested to referee Sandro Scharer for a foul on Niakhate by Maguire. Christian Eriksen, ever thoughtful, kicked a bit of debris off the pitch.
Even then, in that heightened state, they were probably contemplating how United cannot reach real success with this level of jeopardy, as good as it made the immediate feeling.
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That is the conflict at the heart of United. In the end, it took Amorim effectively going four-four-f***king-two, in the manner of film character Mike Bassett, with Maguire and Mainoo unorthodox strike partners. But they both scored in characteristic style: Mainoo through close control and a sharp finish, Maguire by getting his head on a ball into the box.
It is not a long-term solution, though, as Amorim acknowledged in Maguire’s case. Really, his approach that gave United a 2-0 lead is the prototype: with Hojlund up top, linking play, and Garnacho causing danger running with the ball from the left. They both played well, Garnacho with one of his best performances for the club, but were withdrawn with United needing goals, which speaks to long-term conundrums.
This was, however, a night to savour rather than scrutinise. It was a ridiculous football match engineered by a ridiculous football club, provoking such unbridled passion that the occasion will be spoken about for a long time to come.
(Top photo: Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty Images)
