Harry Maguire has thrown his support behind under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana and advised his Manchester United teammate to shut out the noise surrounding his recall for Thursday’s Europa League clash with Lyon.
Onana will return in goal for the quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford after he was criticised for the goals United conceded in a 2-2 draw in France last week and then rested for Sunday’s trip to Newcastle.
Maguire will line up in front of the Cameroon goalkeeper and is confident Onana will prove the doubters wrong. ‘Playing in front of Andre is great,’ said the England international. "I have faith in Andre." He has had an excellent career. He’s got great experience and we all know he’s an excellent goalkeeper. He has proved it at Inter Milan, won numerous trophies and played in Champions League finals.
"In a career, you always have periods of ups and downs when you feel out of shape. It is about how you build yourself back in and find that confidence to perform again.
‘At the moment, he is probably feeling that everything is going against him, but you take it game by game. He will undoubtedly be present tomorrow night. ‘He is a big personality and a big character, and he will be looking forward to the game.
He will want to show everyone what he is about again.’
Maguire has faced criticism and fierce scrutiny during his career for United and England, and had some words of advice for Onana on how to handle the external noise.
He continued, "Try your best to ignore it all, focus on your job, come in every day, and do your best." “Tomorrow night is another game of football, go on that pitch and give it absolutely everything,” I always told myself. When you walk off you say to yourself, “I’ve left everything out there”.
No matter how you perform, that is only what you can do.
‘It’s the same for any player who wears this badge. It comes with a responsibility to perform, and when you don’t perform and the league results aren’t good enough, people do come under the spotlight. I’ve been in that situation myself. All you can do is day in day out do your best, work as hard as possible and take each game as it comes.’
United are bidding to reach the semi-finals against either Athletic Bilbao or Glasgow Rangers en route to next month’s final in Bilbao.
The Europa League is not only an opportunity to finish a desperate season with a trophy, but also to secure automatic qualification to the Champions League.
‘It has been a disappointing season, there is no doubt about it,’ said Maguire. ‘From the start of the season we have been far too inconsistent.
The performances have picked up of late, but there are key aspects where as players we have to take more responsibility and change them in our favour.
‘Tomorrow night is an important night for us in the competition: big night, European night and one we are looking forward to.
‘It is so important.
There is no doubt if we do win the Europa League, it will still be a disappointing season but it would be a big bonus. We are able to participate in the Champions League, which is not available to us through the Premier League. It is important we win trophies at this club.’
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