5 unexpectedly clutch heroes for Man Utd in Europe: Mount, Maguire…
Manchester United have a curious capability of producing huge moments in European football, whether or not they have succeeded in other competitions that season.
From super-sub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirming a treble to Edwin van der Sar saving Nicolas Anelka’s penalty and many more huge moments, United know how to create a European stir.
Some lesser stars have cropped up in some big matches for United, and here, we have taken a look at five of them.
Darron Gibson
Irish midfielder Gibson played in a United era alongside stars in his position such as Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, meaning starts were few and far between.
With the latter absent for the 2010-11 Champions League final second leg against Schalke, Gibson was given the nod, having played just twice in the European campaign to that point.
He made himself known, though, assisting Antonio Valencia for the opener, and scoring past elite goalkeeper Manuel Neuer five minutes later.
United won the tie 6-1 on aggregate, Gibson’s input helping to send them to the final.
Park Ji-sung
South Korean midfielder Park was famed for doing literally whatever Sir Alex Ferguson asked of him, and he made Andrea Pirlo’s life a living hell doing just that against AC Milan in 2009-10.
One of the most technically gifted players the game has ever seen, Pirlo was given no chance of impacting the game, as United advanced from the Champions League last 16 7-2 on aggregate, Park sticking to him like glue for the entire tie.
Pirlo is noted as saying: “At Milan, he [Sir Alex Ferguson] unleashed Park Ji-Sung to shadow me. [Park] rushed about at the speed of an electron. He’d fling himself at me, his hands all over my back, trying to intimidate me.
“He’d look at the ball and not know what it was for. They’d programmed him to stop me. His devotion to the task was almost touching. Even though he was a famous player, he consented to being used as a guard dog.”
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
The 2016-17 season in the Premier League was a poor one for Mkhitaryan. The Armenian winger was directly involved in just five goals for United in the top flight.
In Europe, though, he had his head screwed on. Mkhitaryan’s crowing moment in a United shirt was in the Europa League final against Ajax, scoring the second goal in a 2-0 victory to put the Red Devils out of sight and confirm the trophy.
Earlier in the campaign, he had scored a crucial goal in a 2-1 victory over Anderlecht to help his side to the semis.
Harry Maguire
Maguire is a centre-back until you tell him you need a goal, at which point he’ll do literally whatever is asked of him.
In one of United’s most famous comebacks, against Lyon in the Europa League quarter-finals in 2025, the England defender was deployed successfully as a striker.
Maguire had already assisted in normal time of the second leg before the madness of extra time ensued.
At the beginning of the extra period, the sides were level 4-4 on aggregate, before Lyon scored two goals with 11 minutes left to go.
United came within six minutes of exiting the competition, before Bruno Fernandes scored, Kobbie Mainoo levelled, and who else but Maguire found himself free in the box to glance a header past Lucas Perri to send United through.
Mason Mount
A torrid time with injuries has seen Mount available very scarcely in his first two seasons at Old Trafford. I
n his debut campaign, he scored on goal for the Red Devils, but he chipped in with double that tally in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final alone.
Off the back of a start and a goal against Brentford in the previous Premier League game, Mount had some much-needed confidence, and that much was evident in the second leg against Athletic Club.
The attacking midfielder entered the game in the 62nd minute, and 10 minutes later had United’s first goal of the night.
They then bagged two more in quick succession, before Mount put the finishing touches on a 7-1 aggregate victory with a 91st-minute strike.
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