Five more crazy Man United European nights at Old Trafford

Manchester United won a dramatic Europa League quarter-final against Lyon on Thursday night.

Two goals up on the night and on aggregate with 20 minutes to go, the capitulation from Ruben Amorim’s side was astonishing – but gave us one of the most dramatic nights Old Trafford has ever witnessed.

There has not been an awful lot to shout about since Sir Alex Ferguson retired but we have five other epic European nights for Manchester United at Old Trafford in the post-Fergie era.

Manchester United 2-1 Barcelona, 2023

Erik ten Hag led Manchester United to third place in the Premier League, an FA Cup final and Carabao Cup success in his first year at the club and many people thought the glory days were returning.

They weren’t. It went really bad, really fast.

In Europe, Ten Hag’s side breezed through the Europa League group stage despite losing on matchday one to Real Sociedad, keeping four clean sheets in their next five matches. But they finished second behind Real Sociedad on goal difference. Ouch.

That set up a play-off against Champions League drop-outs Barcelona. A daunting task, United earned a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp thanks to a Marcus Rashford strike and Jules Kounde own goal.

Granted, this was not the Barcelona of years gone by, nor was it even the Barcelona of 2024/25, but it was still Barcelona and United’s chance to get one over Frenkie de Jong, who refused to transfer from Catalonia to Manchester United in the 2022 summer transfer window.

A Robert Lewandowski penalty put Barca in the ascendency but the Red Devils came Back Stronger to win 2-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate. Fred’s goal two minutes after half-time got them on their way and a collector’s item – a goal from Antony – got them into the last 16.

United played another two Spanish sides after that: beating Real Betis and losing to Sevilla in quite ridiculous circumstances.

Two lucky Sevilla goals at Old Trafford earned them a late draw in the first leg and then David de Gea had a nightmare in Seville.

MORE MAN UTD V LYON REACTION

👉 Man Utd send in the f***ing clowns but the clowns win anyway

👉 Amorim ‘torture’ earned his ‘Mark Robins moment’ ahead of ‘delicious’ Man Utd v Spurs final

👉 Rio Ferdinand makes incredible Manchester United prediction while Paul Scholes just lies

Manchester United 3-0 Olympiacos, 2014

Manchester United needed a big performance in their 2013/14 Champions League last-16 second leg against Olympiacos after a dismal 2-0 first-leg defeat in Greece.

The pressure on manager David Moyes was palpable and the Scot could not afford to get knocked out by weaker opposition with the club struggling so much domestically. He bought himself some time with a huge 3-0 victory at Old Trafford, though United were knocked out in the next round by Bayern Munich.

After a lacklustre showing in Greece, Moyes went for a more attacking line-up and it paid off – Olympiacos’ two-goal advantage was wiped out before half time. Robin van Persie was the man of the match, winning an early penalty that he converted and equalising on aggregate in first-half stoppage time.

Seven minutes into the second half, Van Persie completed his hat-trick with a curling free-kick. Away goals were still a thing, so it was a nervy end to the game. As he often did, David de Gea stepped up to help the Red Devils get over the line. He made a brilliant double save before Van Persie’s second of the night.

It was arguably Moyes’ finest hour as Manchester United manager. The performance brought back flashes of the old United and the fans played their part in shifting the momentum.

Moyes needed something to give fans hope and the victory over Olympiacos did exactly that. Sure, it didn’t end particularly well but this was the only big European night post-Sir Alex Ferguson for a couple of years.

Manchester United 3-2 Atalanta, 2021

If there’s one thing Manchester United excel at, it’s making life difficult for themselves. Their 2021/22 Champions League campaign proved just that. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils thrived on chaos and 15-minute spurts in matches to overwhelm their opponents and Cristiano Ronaldo fed into that with some massive goals in Europe during his only full season back at Old Trafford.

Booed off at half-time two goals down to Atalanta in the Champions League group stage, United staged a comeback when it looked like the Italians would go on to win handsomely.

Bruno Fernandes and Rashford linked up to halve the deficit and the crowd were now fully behind the players. Scott McTominay hit the post with a shinner before Harry Maguire’s confident finish made it 2-2 with 15 minutes remaining. Although De Gea again was forced to play his part, United deserved to win.

With perhaps the most post-Real Madrid Ronaldo goal imaginable, the Portuguese superstar leapt up to head into the bottom corner for a late winner in Europe, less than a month after his 95th-minute comeback winner against Villarreal.

It was a superb team performance in the second half but Ronaldo hogged the headlines, so he was a happy bunny.

Manchester United 5-1 Midtjylland, 2016

We have looked at Ruben Amorim, Erik ten Hag, David Moyes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United – now it’s time for Louis van Gaal’s army. Particularly, the night that marked the arrival of teenage sensation Rashford.

Trailing 2-1 on aggregate after a Europa League round-of-16 first-leg defeat in Denmark, the Red Devils actually fell further behind when Pione Sisto opened the scoring at Old Trafford. A Nikolay Bodurov own goal sparked the comeback on an iconic night at Old Trafford, one when a club legend was seemingly born.

Brought into the starting XI after Anthony Martial suffered an injury in the pre-match warm-up, Rashford scored a brace on his first-team debut to help the Red Devils through to the next round. As we all remember, he then started against Arsenal in the Premier League three days later and scored another brace in a 3-2 win.

Despite a long injury list, it was a sensational night at Old Trafford as they came from two goals down on aggregate to go through convincingly.

Rashford became United’s youngest ever scorer in European competition at 18 years and 117 days old, netting the equaliser on aggregate and then the go-ahead goal in the space of 12 minutes.

Manchester United 6-2 AS Roma, 2021

Another huge European performance at Old Trafford, but this time, in front of no home fans due to Covid.

After finishing third in a Champions League group including Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir, the Red Devils dropped into the Europa League but became one of the favourites to win the competition. They comfortably eliminated Real Sociedad, edged past AC Milan and beat Granada to set up a semi-final against AS Roma.

The job was essentially done after a 6-2 first-leg victory that included braces from Fernandes and Edinson Cavani. It was a thumping win with Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood also getting on the scoresheet.

There was no electric atmosphere or 12th man to help get Solskjaer’s side over the line – just an emphatic performance from the players on the pitch, and one of the best European nights under the Norwegian.

READ NOW: Manchester United legend and Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool cult heroes still ahead of excellent Marmoush