Sevilla manager José Luis Mendilibar believes Manchester United 'got scared' following his side's first goal at Old Trafford.
United started the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final in electric fashion against Sevilla on Thursday night and they had a well-deserved two-goal advantage at half-time thanks to an outstanding brace from loanee Marcel Sabitzer.
More of the same was expected in the second half, with the tie looking to be decided in just one leg, but the intensity lacked.
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The game began to open up in the latter stages and Erik ten Hag made the decision to replace Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial with Christian Eriksen, Wout Weghorst and Anthony Elanga from the substitute bench.
Sevilla eventually threatened and scored in the 84th minute, which was made worse by Lisandro Martinez coming off the pitch with an injury. United were forced to defend with just 10 men and the Spanish side smelt blood and a golden opportunity.
In added time, they took advantage of the mentality shift of United, who were looking to defend, and they found an equaliser through a Harry Maguire own goal, with the ball ricocheting off his face and beyond David de Gea.
Mendilibar spoke after the game and he identified his side's first goal, which made United 'scared', as the turning point.
"They [United] came out very quickly," Mendilibar said. "We were out of place, the defence left many spaces between the lines, difficult to cover, and until we have solved that problem, then we have been better.
"We are in two competitions, the other game is coming up in three days, we came from playing six days ago, the idea was for everyone to compete, for them to feel like they were part of the team, and because they have trained well.
"The team has improved with the changes [Sevilla's subititotions], they have gone down a bit with the 2-1, which they saw as easy. With the tie and Lisandro's [Martinez] injury, they [United] were scared and asking for more time.
"In the first few minutes, it seemed like the world was falling apart [for Sevilla]. Football doesn't end with that, it lasts a long time, Sevilla in that competition is always on top. When we made it 2-1, a great Manchester noticed that there was a great Sevilla”.
"You have to try to win there [the second leg]. It is at 50%, but with the advantage of playing with our fans”.
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