For 84 minutes this has looked like being another disappointing day in a dreadful season for Sevilla. Their directors occupying Old Trafford's plush seats and the few hundred fans in the away end would have raised an eyebrow at the identity of their tormentor, too.
The team sheet said he was Anthony Martial. The back of the shirt said he was Anthony Martial. But this wasn't the Anthony Martial they had watched just 12 months ago.
The Frenchman scored once in 12 games in his loan spell with Sevilla. Spanish daily AS called the move a "fiasco". Club president Jose Castro was less cutting, saying "we spent important money on him but it didn't work."
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You can say that again. The failure of the loan move looked costly for United at the start of the summer. Had Sevilla wanted to make it permanent then they might have cashed in. Castro mentioned the injury record which restricted him to those 12 appearances and his fitness is a problem.
It was certainly a problem for United. They were 2-0 up and in relative control when he was withdrawn after 62 minutes. With him went United's goal threat and in a chaotic finale, United's advantage disappeared as well. Self-inflicted wounds meant the visitors returned to Seville confident that their remarkable record in this competition might still be the light at the end of a dark tunnel this season.
It will be electric in the Roman Sanchez Pijuan next week, but it could easily have been a non-event. When United led 2-0 after 21 minutes it looked like they would put this tie to bed in Manchester.
Martial was the heart of the way the La Liga strugglers were cut to shreds. He might continue to divide opinion among fans, but Ten Hag seems to be the president of his fan club.
'He makes us play better' is the message the Dutchman has twice repeated recently when asked whether Martial is facing the decisive period in his Old Trafford career. His availability needs to improve, but Ten Hag doesn't give the impression he plans on parting with the 27-year-old this summer, even if he does sign that world-class No. 9 he desperately wants.
If Martial was fired up by Ten Hag's arm around the shoulder, then he spent just over an hour proving him right against the club he spent just over four months at last season. This was his first start since lasting 45 minutes of the Manchester derby in January and the difference in quality between Martial and Wout Weghorst is clear to see.
You would expect Weghorst to be the striker more comfortable with his back to goal, but at times this was an exhibition in the role of a hold-up forward. When the ball went to him it stuck and time and again he played United out of dicey positions by being neat in possession and finding a pass.
That was on display for the first goal, when the attack looked to be going nowhere, with Martial on the right wing and facing his own goal. His quick feet bought him time and then he produced a backheel pass to Jadon Sancho which opened the game up. Sancho found Casemiro, he passed to Bruno Fernandes, who unlocked the defence with a perfectly weighted ball to Marcel Sabitzer, whose deflected shot beat Yassine Bounou. But it all started with Martial.
If he deserved an assist for that goal, he got one for the second. Again he held on to possession until the pass was on, sliding in Sabitzer, who had run behind the defence, and he finished smartly.
He could have repeated the trick just before he went off. United were under pressure when the ball came out to him midway inside his own half, but again it stuck and he bought enough time to lay it off to Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Again that contribution opened the game up. Wan-Bissaka sent Antony racing away and he hit the crossbar.
Had that gone in it would have been goodnight Sevilla. Instead, it was Martial's last contribution. He departed with Fernandes and Sancho and then had to watch as the good work was undone in bizarre circumstances with the own goals from David de Gea and Harry Maguire.
Martial's record this season now stands at 10 goals and assists in just over 860 minutes of football. "When he is in the team we play our best football and have the best results as a team," Ten Hag had said on Wednesday.
The evidence of the first 62 minutes and the final 28 minutes of this quarter-final first-leg suggests he might be right.
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