REDS GO TO EL & BACK

Humiliated United crash out as calamitous mistakes by Maquire and De Gea put an end to dreams of Euro glory

- DAVID MCDONNELL

MANCHESTER UNITED'S Europa League campaign came to a humiliating end last night after a series of self-inflicted wounds.

Yet the reality is this quarter-final was lost at Old Trafford in the first leg when United, 2-0 up, conceded two late own goals to lose the initiative. Erik ten Hag also lost his first-choice central defensive pairing of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane that night, a loss that was to have a huge bearing on this meek exit from Europe.

Harry Maguire has had a season to forget, the United captain losing his place at the start of the season after Ten Hag (right) realised he could not trust the 30-year-old.

Last night, however, it got a whole lot worse for Maguire, whose early blunder gifted Sevilla the opening goal and set the tone for a defeat that showed how far United still have to go.

United badly missed the influence of suspended playmaker Bruno Fernandes, but his enforced absence alone could not explain such a shambolic display from a team supposedly on the up.

Sevilla's Ivan Rakitic had warned United they would not know what had hit them given the fervent and hostile atmosphere inside the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. And so it proved.