Harry Maguire gives Andre Onana verdict after Man United errors and sends message to goalkeeper
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has offered his backing to Andre Onana ahead of the goalkeeper returning against Lyon in the Europa League.
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has described teammate Andre Onana as an "excellent goalkeeper" ahead of him being reinstated to the team against Lyon at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
Head coach Ruben Amorim has confirmed Onana will reclaim his place between the posts after being left out of the squad against Newcastle United at the weekend.
Amorim made the decision to give Onana an opportunity to "disconnect" after being guilty of committing two errors in last Thursday's 2-2 draw with Lyon at the Groupama Stadium.
Onana described United as a "way better" team than Lyon ahead of their first leg meeting last week, triggering a war of words with Lyon midfielder and former Reds ace Nemanja Matic, and Maguire has every faith Onana will deliver the goods tomorrow night
"I think first and foremost Andre has proven in his past that he is an excellent goalkeeper," Maguire said. "He has proven that at Inter, he has won numerous trophies and played in a Champions League final.
"During a career, you always have spells where you have ups and downs and find yourself a little bit out of form. It is about how you build yourself back in and find that confidence to perform again.
"At the moment, he is probably feeling that everything is going against him, but you take it game by game, and I am sure he will be there tomorrow night. He is a big personality, a big character and he will be looking forward to the game.
"He will want to show everyone what he is about. Playing in front of Andre is great, I have confidence in front of Andre. He has had a fantastic career, he has got great experience and we all know he is an excellent goalkeeper."
Maguire has found himself in an identical position to Onana in the past, in the sense that the spotlight has been on him after making a collection of mistakes.
Explaining how any player deals with the spotlight being on them, Maguire added: "Try your best to ignore it all, focus on your job, come in on a daily basis and do your best.
"I always said to myself, 'tomorrow night is another game of football, go on that pitch and give it absolutely everything'. When you walk off you say to yourself, 'I've left everything out there'.
"No matter how you perform, that is only what you can do. It's the same for any player who wears this badge. It comes with a responsibility to perform and when you don't perform and the league results aren't good enough, people do come under the spotlight.
"I've been in that situation myself. All you can do is day in, day out do your best, work as hard as possible and take each game as it comes."
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