The spoils were shared in Sunday’s Manchester 196th derby instalment following a truly dull affair for all involved.
With both sides seemingly resigned to just bettering their Premier League positioning while putting most of their focus on other competitions, the Europa League and the FA Cup, the rivals looked as though they were ready to settle for a draw from the first blow of the whistle.
From Ruben Amorim’s point of view, he can take some pride in the fact he took points from each of his encounters with Pep Guardiola this season – including as Sporting Lisbon boss. Fans would’ve perhaps preferred a display akin to last December’s reverse fixture at the Etihad, which saw United come from behind to claim an emphatic victory in the 90th minute.
Now, all focus is on Thursday’s clash with Olympique Lyonnais in France; the first leg of a season-defining quarter-final tie.
Getting the job done early at the Groupama Stadium would be ideal, although taking a positive result into the second leg would allow the Old Trafford faithful to fully roar the Reds on come April 17.
Of course, having a fully fit squad wouldn’t have gone amiss, but Amorim will be navigating the matches without influential duo Amad and Lisandro Martinez – and potentially more.
Harry Maguire was replaced by Victor Lindelof in the 58th minute yesterday evening. Given he’s just returned from an injury layoff, fans pondered whether he’d suffered a fresh setback when he walked gingerly off the turf.
However, Amorim was quick to assure supporters post-match that the change was pre-planned. He told reporters: “No, it’s not an injury, it’s just [that] we had a time that we could use Harry without any danger. We cannot lose any more players – we have to try to divide the moments between the players. We have a really important game on Thursday.”
“Just managing [him]. After 60 minutes, 55 minutes is a risk and we cannot risk any player at this moment.”
“Matta (Matthijs de Ligt), he has an injury. Let’s see how long it is going to take. We’ll see. Mason Mount is ready to do whatever we want,” the Portuguese coach continued.
“Of course, we have to look at the minutes. Kobbie Mainoo is training with us. We want to be careful, again, with our players, but maybe he’s going to be in our squad.”
