Harry Maguire believes Manchester United were inspired to win the ‘strangest, maddest game I've ever played in’ by Lyon’s premature celebrations at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
Having surrendered a two-goal half-time lead in a sensational Europa League quarter-final tie, United went 4-2 down to Lyon’s 10 men in extra-time before scoring three goals late in extra-time to complete one of the greatest comebacks Old Trafford has ever seen.
Maguire was the hero with a header in the 121st minute to give Ruben Amorim’s side a 7-6 aggregate win and send them through to the semi-finals against Bilbao in two weeks’ time.
The England defender admitted that the sight of Lyon’s substitutes and coaching staff running on the pitch to celebrate like they had already won the tie gave United an even greater incentive to fight back.
‘They thought they'd won it, the way they were celebrating,’ said Maguire. ‘That gave us more of an incentive to turn the game around.
‘I think the worst feeling was that we felt we'd thrown it away, rather than lost the game at that moment, and how we managed to get ourselves into that situation. Because even going into extra-time at 2-2, the momentum was back with us with the sending-off.
‘I've had some amazing moments at this club. I’ve been here six years now and I've had some great times – some bad times as well. I think that game pretty much summed up my time at this club, to be honest!
‘It was an incredible feeling to score that winner in such an important game, in a game that was full of emotion and the strangest, maddest game I've ever played in or witnessed, to be honest. I think the lads showed great spirit and fight in the end to dig in and turn it around.
‘Of course, moments like this are something that the fans can go home and there were people probably there in the stands for whom it might have been their first game or whatever, and they go home with a great memory of Old Trafford.
‘This season it's been so difficult for everyone involved – all the fans, all the players, the staff. It's just been nowhere near good enough and when you get moments like that, and memories you create like that, I think it's so important for the fans to go home with a smile on their faces.
‘I don't know how I would have felt if I had come here and been speaking to you after a 4-2 defeat – it's not even worth trying to think about that.
‘In the game we played well. The second half, it was comfortable, they had a lot of possession but they didn't create chances.
‘Then they scored the first goal out of nothing, really. It was pinball in our box and they managed to put it in and I think with the season that we've had, at Old Trafford especially, I think we started maybe playing a little anxiously, a little bit nervously. That's understandable.
‘But we needed to see out those minutes and be solid, so to end up at 2-2 straight away it was difficult to take, and then in extra-time we obviously can't get done on two counter-attacks like that when we're playing against 10 men. It's criminal really.
‘But we showed great spirit at that moment, because then, I don't know how everyone else felt, but I'm sure they felt really disappointed and maybe felt like we'd let everyone down.’
Amorim threw Maguire up front again as an emergency striker and he came up trumps with a fantastic header from Casemiro’s cross to the back post, just when it looked as though the game would go to penalties.
Maguire added: ‘You guys can see that we're probably short on attackers. If we've got two attackers in the squad in Garners (Alejandro Garnacho) and Rasmus (Hojlund) and they give everything out there, I think Garners was on his last legs and he was up and down the pitch numerous times.
‘So I think we are short on attackers – we lost Josh (Zirkzee) – so if he (Amorim) asks me to go up there, I'm willing to go up there. I do see myself as a threat and I do feel like I can score a goal up there.’
Looking forward to the semi against Bilbao, Maguire said: ‘It's important we do as well as we can in this competition. Listen, we're only in the semi-final, we're playing Athletic Bilbao.
‘I don't know if people are saying they're the favourites to win the competition, but we'll go into it with a great belief to win the game. But we're only in the semi-final, so we don't want to get carried away in terms of winning the competition.’