Man Utd star told to take share of blame after another Onana clanger as Hojlund rescue act spares blushes

Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana dropped another big clanger in the Europa League comeback win over Viktoria Plzen, but Owen Hargreaves believes a defensive teammate was equally to blame.

Unlike his error in the loss to Nottingham Forest, Onana’s mistake against Plzen in the Czech Republic was not costly as two goals from substitute Rasmus Hojlund earned the Red Devils a 2-1 victory.

Onana’s error against Forest was 100 per cent his fault but former Man Utd midfielder Hargreaves feels the United stopper could have been helped more by centre-back Matthijs de Ligt for Plzen’s goal.

Onana gave the ball away for Plzen to score, with Hargreaves believing De Ligt should have helped him out by offering a better passing option, saying: “Both Andre Onana and Matthijs de Ligt could be at fault there, but Onana a little bit more.

“De Ligt really didn’t want the ball. In the end, Onana plays a poor pass. But Ruben Amorim wants his centre-backs to go in there and recieve the ball.

“De Ligt is not comfortable receiving it on the half turn and Onana plays a poor ball and on the wrong side.

“It’s difficult position for a centre-back to be in, [But] if the manager tells you to do something, you are going to do it.”

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Fernandes jumps to Onana’s defence

Bruno Fernandes has thrown his arm around Andre Onana after the Manchester United goalkeeper was deemed at fault for Viktoria Plzen’s opening goal on Thursday night.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Fernandes said post-match: “We want to play from the back and everyone knows that, then we have to make the right decision on the pitch.

“Andre [Onana] thought that Matta [De Ligt] could get on the ball but he missed it and they scored a goal.

“It is not about Andre making the mistake, we don’t look at individuals here when something happens on the wrong side.

“We have huge belief in him. He knows he made a mistake because he is a clever guy, he is going to help us many times and we trust his qualities on the ball.

“Mistakes are part of football. If they don’t happen then goals don’t happen. But we did well to show the resilience to come back and find the victory.”

Speaking after the game, United boss Amorim focused on the result rather than Onana’s howler, adding: “We improved during the game. We controlled the game in the first half, but without any great chances.

“We lacked speed and movement and we didn’t control the ball because the pitch was difficult to make the connections with the strikers. Viktoria didn’t have chances either.

“In the second half, we gave a goal away but we reacted well. We pushed the opponents to their own half and we managed to score. The win is important at the moment and it’s good to prepare for the next game.”

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