Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has failed to admit that Sevilla are a better side than the Red Devils, despite his old club’s elimination from the competition.
Paul Scholes still thinks Manchester United are a better side than Sevilla, despite Thursday night’s contradictory scoreline.
United were kicked out of the Europa League on a difficult night in Seville with their tails between their legs. A 2-2 first leg draw saw the Red Devils expected to make light work of a team languishing in the bottom half of La Liga.
However, it proved to be anything but when defensive roars from David de Gea and Harry Maguire saw the hosts beat their Premier League rivals 3-0 that night to secure a comfortable 5-2 victory on aggregate.
Youssef En-Nesyri capitalized on a defensive error between De Gea and Maguire to open the scoring within ten minutes, before Loic Bade doubled his lead just after the break. Sevilla ended the game in the closing stages as En-Nesyri took advantage of another class of De Gea disaster to get an easy chance at home.
Red Devils legend Scholes praised Sevilla’s aggression after the game, although he didn’t say they were a better team overall. He told BT Sport: “Listen, it was a tough night. They didn’t deal with Sevilla’s aggression and passion. I think Manchester United are still a better team than them but it’s tough to say tonight.
“When you get to those places you expect to take cues from your most experienced players and from the first minute David de Gea throws the ball wide and from there he’s a nervous wreck. It’s one of your best and most experienced Spanish goalkeepers, you don’t expect that in his home country. They just couldn’t handle the aggression from a brilliant Sevilla side tonight. ”
United missed the presence of Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford early on in Spain, with the former suspended and the latter coming on at half-time after recovering from injury.
All eyes are now on Wembley for Erik ten Hag’s men looking to salvage their failing season with an FA Cup semi-final against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon.
