Man Utd players failed to heed Erik ten Hag's 'deadly' warning against Sevilla

Manchester United players failed to heed Erik ten Hag’s warning during the club’s clash with Sevilla.

In the first leg of United’s Europa League quarter-final clash with competition specialists Sevilla, Ten Hag men blew a two-goal lead via a pair of late own goals from Harry Maguire and Tyrell Malacia.

The Red Devils appeared to be striding towards the semi-final after Marcel Sabitzer grabbed a first-half brace. However, United were ruthlessly punished for their failure to underscore their dominance.

Malacia’s 84th-minute own goal handed Sevilla a lifeline in the two-legged tie before Youssef En-Nesyri forced Maguire to put the ball in his own net in the second minute of stoppage time.

And beyond the disappointing result, United were also dealt a double injury blow as Raphael Varane was forced off at half-time and Lisandro Martinez was carried off the field on a stretcher in the second half.

Ten Hag’s Sevilla warning

Before the game Ten Hag warned his side to not “lose focus” against Sevilla, insisting a lack of concentration could lead to United’s downfall.

Writing in the United programme, Ten Hag said: "If we lose focus for even a second, it can be deadly.

“We will require complete concentration and professionalism across both legs of this tie if we are to have hopes of progressing to the semi-finals."

A failure to put Sevilla to the sword now means United’s Europa League aspirations hinge on producing a positive result in next Thursday's return leg at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

For that clash, United could be without their first-choice centre-back partnership and their leading scorer Marcus Rashford, who has been ruled out for “a few games”.

After the Sevilla encounter Ten Hag bemoaned United’s bad luck.

The Dutchman said: "We had the game in our hands. We were 2-0 up and we should've scored a third and a fourth. The game was totally on us, and we had some unlucky moments with injuries.

"We had to make some subs with injuries, like Rafa [Raphael Varane] at half time, then we lose control in an unlucky moment and we switched off. Then we had another unlucky moment with Lisandro Martinez and we're down to 10 and then we conceded a second own goal. It's bad luck and we have to deal with it."