Maguire: That was the maddest game I’ve ever played in

Harry Maguire was the hero on Thursday night as he helped turn around a 4-2 defeat in to a 5-4 victory in the final minutes of extra time against Lyon in the Europa League.

The game had been billed as our biggest of the season, with us needing to win this competition to play in the Champions League next year.

Speaking to The National after the game, Maguire claimed the rollercoaster of emotions and events summed up his time at United so far.

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.

Athletic Bilbao and currently fourth in La Liga so Maguire recognises that we will have to perform a lot better in the semi-final if we are to progress.

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. 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.

We’ve got to do far better than that if we want to win this competition. We can’t be doing that and be leaving it to turn it around in that situation. But it does show great spirit, fight, togetherness, and that’s the one thing this group of lads is doing, they’re giving everything. Sometimes I think this year it’s not been good enough and rightly so, it hasn’t, but they are giving everything.

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