Ruben Amorim, the manager of Manchester United, is expected to fire custodian Andre Onana.
Onana was responsible for both Lyon’s early goal and their late equaliser as Manchester United and Lyon drew 2-2 in their Europa League quarterfinal first leg.
Immediately following his verbal altercation with former Red Devils midfielder Nemanja Matic, who called him “one of the worst goalkeepers of Man Utd history” after the Cameroonian had stated his belief that Amorim’s team is “way better” than their Europa League rivals, Onana made his most recent clumsy contribution.
With fewer than 30 minutes remaining in the first leg, Thiago Almada’s free kick was diverted onto the roof of the goalkeeper’s net by the goalie’s flap, putting United at an unnecessary disadvantage.
At the interval, Rayan Cherki equalised the score when Onana mishandled a shot from Georges Mikautadze, giving United a 2-1 lead in stoppage time.
With Altay Bayindir ready to play at St. James’ Park, Amorim “is considering taking Andre Onana out of the firing line for Manchester United’s trip to Newcastle on Sunday,” the Daily Mail said.
Altay, the number two for the Red Devils, hasn’t played since the end of January, when he participated in Manchester United’s last two Europa League group stage games after his heroics in the FA Cup penalty shootout against Arsenal.
“Mail Sport understands that Amorim is set to make a number of changes for the visit to Tyneside,” according to the article.
Joshua Zirkzee, a striker who has also received a lot of criticism this season, showed that Amorim and the dressing room backed under-fire first-choice custodian Onana on Thursday by putting Man Utd ahead against Lyon with a confident header.
“One hundred per cent,” Zirkzee said to reporters. We won’t fire someone for making errors since we are a single team. That is absurd.
Man Utd, now in 13th position in the Premier League, is eager to go closer to Brentford and Crystal Palace, who are ahead of them.
The season has been utterly dismal, and with seven games left, any remaining aspirations of finishing in the top half are dwindling.
So far in 2024–25, Onana has been a constant presence in the Premier League.
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