Paul Scholes hits out at Man United's second half display after Sevilla draw

Paul Scholes believes Manchester United only have themselves to blame for taking their foot off the gas after they conceded two late goals in their 2-2 draw with Sevilla.

United took control of their Europa League quarter-final when Marcel Sabitzer scored two quickfire goals in the first half, but United struggled to kick on after the break and were punished by their Spanish opponents.

Tyrell Malacia deflected the ball into his own net with six minutes remaining, and United then shipped another own goal in the third minute of added time as Harry Maguire inadvertently headed the ball past David de Gea.

Scholes was bemused by United's second half showing, and put it down to complacency creeping in after a straightforward first 45 minutes.

'A great result for Sevilla, you have to say. United were quiet in the second half and didn’t really create anything,' Scholes told BT Sport.

'I don’t think the substitutes helped the game, they definitely weakened the team.

'Sevilla weren’t great in the first half and United were playing so well, you were thinking this is three, four, five and the end of the game tonight. The second half was a complete disaster.

'You never felt Sevilla were putting that much pressure on United. It was just a strange second half. You can only put it down to complacency.'

Sevilla got back into the game when they pulled a goal back late on, and Malacia did not cover himself in glory with his defending.

The full back allowed a floated through ball to go through to Jesus Navas and then compounded his error by deflecting the resulting cross into his own net.

Scholes was far from impressed with Malacia's failure to spot the danger, and fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves admitted the mistake was a costly one that turned the match on its head.

'Malacia has to deal with that. He cannot afford to let that ball bounce. He has to come and get rid of it,' Scholes said.

'He is unaware of the danger behind him. That is where the danger is. It is an easy ball, swing your right foot at it. You cannot let the ball bounce. Maybe he thinks it will skid on but from then on things go from bad to worse.'

Hargreaves agreed, adding: 'It was an easy ball for Malacia to deal with, maybe he was wary of it bouncing awkwardly.

'When he looks back tomorrow he will think: "why didn’t I just clear it?" From then on the game changed.'