It was a night when it was wise to take nothing at face value, when deeper scratches beneath were a prerequisite. The overarching example at Old Trafford on Thursday concerned Manchester United’s superiority over a heavily rotated Sevilla team for 84 minutes of the Europa League quarter-final first leg. It came to feel like a mirage when they imploded late on, conceding twice to draw 2-2.
The devil lay in the finer details. When United’s star defender, Lisandro Martínez, lay stricken in the 86th minute at 2-1, it was lovely to see the Sevilla full-backs Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuña help him up and carry him to the side of the pitch – before he was taken away on a stretcher.
Or was it? Martínez’s World Cup-winning Argentina teammates could sense that United were vulnerable after Tyrell Malacia’s own goal and it is a fair bet that they also knew their opponents had used their five substitutes. They did not want Martínez to receive lengthy treatment on the field, eating up vital minutes, breaking their sudden momentum. They wanted him out of the way.
Then there was Érik Lamela’s 38th-minute tackle on Casemiro, who was in the wars on his return from suspension, later catching a dangerously high boot in the face from Nemanja Gudelj. Lamela put his studs into Casemiro, who had gone to ground to challenge and it was difficult to tell whether another of Sevilla’s Argentinians was trying to pull out once he realised that the Brazilian was in charge of the duel.
Then again, this was Argentina v Brazil. And it was Lamela, who will not mind it being written that he loves to embrace the dark arts; he will do anything to win. The VAR gave him the benefit of the doubt when choosing not to upgrade his yellow card to red.
The rivalry between the superpowers of South American football was at play in one of the contradictions for United – the case of Antony. To all intents, the Brazilian’s performance was excellent; a response to his critics, the latest sign that the £82m signing is making progress.
Antony was in the mood at the outset, dribbling with intent, releasing Jadon Sancho with one pass, beating his man up the right on another action, working the goalkeeper, Bono, after a nice piece of skill and a give-and-go with Sancho. He set the tone for United to surge into their early two-goal lead.
After the interval, Antony did his move. You know the one. So do defenders, although it is one thing to be ready for the jink inside and curling left-foot shot for the far corner; another to stop it. Antony was off target with his first try; he was unlucky to see the second just after the hour come back off the top of the post.
And it was here, with United in charge and Antony on top of his game, that he felt the passion which runs hot in his blood get the better of him. The trigger was Acuña, the pair clashing on 64 minutes and Antony just kicking his opponent’s ankle before following up with a chest-to-chest, big man show. Antony was booked. The consequences would be disproportionate.
For the next 10 minutes or so, Antony versus Acuña was the main event. Acuña got a yellow card for a bit of retribution and, shortly after, Antony ran back to win the ball off him before nodding furiously in his face. Antony then blocked an Acuña cross and, when it flew high into the air, the United player stood his ground, asserting himself against his rival, ensuring that his team regained possession. The crowd loved it. Antony was enjoying himself.
For Erik ten Hag, though, there was concern. He had made four substitutions by the 63rd minute, removing Raphaël Varane and Anthony Martial for fitness reasons, Bruno Fernandes because he was on a booking and Sancho, who had not had a great game. Now he worried that Antony’s battle with Acuña was putting his man at risk of a red card.
On 81 minutes, Ten Hag substituted him, Antony departing to a standing ovation. And pretty soon after that, everything went wrong for United; the Malacia own goal, the Martínez injury, the 10 men cracking under increasing pressure, giving up a second own goal, this one by Harry Maguire in stoppage time.
The benefit of hindsight or, as they say in Ten Hag’s part of the Netherlands, “looking a cow in the ass,” is a beautiful thing. “Yeah, a cow in the ass,” Ten Hag said on Friday lunchtime. “We call it that in my region. When he [Antony] gets sent off, you tell me: ‘Why don’t you get him off? Why don’t you go for the risk?’”
The bottom line is that Antony put Ten Hag in a tricky position with an act of petulance. It is not Antony’s fault that the squad’s backup players are a significant downgrade on the starters in many areas – a theme of the capitulation. It is also stating the obvious to say that he was not on the field when United found the plot had deserted them. But Antony’s loss of composure was no mere footnote. He ought to have been the hero. The truth was a little more nuanced.
