Harry Maguire sends honest message to team-mates in urgent Man Utd wake-up call

Harry Maguire was the hero for Manchester United against Lyon, but the experienced defender has warned his team-mates that they must improve if they are to win the Europa League

Harry Maguire said Manchester United’s epic Europa League comeback must be a major wake-up call for Ruben Amorim’s players. United staged a dramatic fightback, blowing a 2-0 lead to trail 4-2, before scoring three goals in the last seven minutes to book their semi-final spot against Athletic Bilbao.

Maguire, who scored the 121st minute winner, said it was “criminal” for United’s players to have put themselves in such a position before staging their great escape. The England defender warned they cannot make the same mistakes again if they want to lift the trophy on May 21 and with it a Champions League place for next season.

“We shouldn’t end up in that situation,” said Maguire. “We’ve got to do far better than that if we want to win this competition. We can’t be doing that and be leaving it to turn it around in that situation. It’s criminal, really.

“The second-half, it was comfortable. They had a lot of possession, but they didn’t create chances, then they scored the first goal out of nothing.

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“With the season we’ve had, at Old Trafford especially, we started maybe playing a little anxiously, a little bit nervously. We needed to see out those minutes and be solid, so to end up at 2-2 straight away it was difficult to take.

“Then in extra-time we obviously can’t get done on two counter-attacks like that when we’re playing against 10 men. It’s criminal, really. But we did show great spirit, fight, togetherness, and that’s the one thing this group of lads is doing- they’re giving everything.”

Maguire admitted United, currently 14th in the Premier League and destined for their lowest finish of the modern era, have been woeful this season. But he said the players are giving their all, despite the team’s clear shortcomings, and will push all the way to win the Europa League.

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“This year it’s not been good enough, but the players are giving everything,” said Maguire. “You can see we’re short on attackers. We had two attackers in the squad in Alejandro [Garnacho] and Rasmus [Hojlund] and they gave everything.

“We’re short on attackers, we lost Josh [Zirkzee], so if the manager asks me to go up front, I’m willing to go up there. I do see myself as a threat and feel like I can score a goal. I’m sure we’ll learn a lot from this game and the games to come.”

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