Ruben Amorim and Man United players celebrate after beating Lyon (Photo by Shaun Botterill, Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has admitted he feels sorry for fans who had to leave last night’s game against Lyon early to beat the traffic.
The Red Devils staged an incredible comeback against the Ligue 1 giants in a thrilling period of extra time which saw five goals scored.
Man Utd had surrendered a 2-0 lead in normal time, making it 4-4 on aggregate, and it looked like Lyon were then heading for victory after scoring twice in extra time.
Remarkably, however, Amorim’s side staged a memorable comeback with three very late goals to turn the tie around and book their place in the Europa League semi-finals.
Some Manchester United fans missed one of the club’s great comebacks
Amorim admitted he was inspired by United’s famous late comeback against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final, having watched it before this week’s clash vs Lyon.
Even if this wasn’t quite as big a stage as the Champions League final, this is sure to go down in United history just for the sheer drama of it all.
There’ll likely be more than a few MUFC supporters who’ll wish they’d stayed to see it out, and Amorim said he felt they’d likely be “gutted” that they left early.
“I was watching again the 1999 documentary to have some inspiration for these moments,” Amorim told TNT Sports after the game, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“It was a great night – 4-2 with one more player you think it’s over, but here it is never over. I felt here everything is possible.”
He added: “I feel for the people who had to leave at 4-2 because of the traffic, they will be gutted.
“We know we are underperforming and deserve all the critics, but we have time to make something special of this season.”
United will now play Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League semi-finals as they look to salvage something from what has been an otherwise dreadful season.
