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.
