Leny Yoro opened his Manchester United account with a crucial strike in the Europa League quarter-final clash with Olympique Lyonnais tonight, but barely cracked a smile after pulling his side level.
The match ended 2-2, and the young Frenchman’s instinctive header brought the score to 1-1 on the stroke of half time after an Andre Onana clanger handed an early advantage to the hosts.
Speaking to TNT Sport after the game, Yoro explained why his only reaction was a quick pump of the arms and to run straight back into position.
Asked about how it felt to score his first United goal, he said: “I didn’t enjoy too much – no celebration because it’s normal, we want to win, no time for celebration. Really happy to score my first goal. We don’t have the win but it’s okay.”
On the goal itself, which saw the teenager react quickly to steer a Manuel Ugarte shot into the Lyon net, he said: “Honestly, it was really quick, I didn’t even think about anything. I just put my head, and tried to score.”
It was a disappointing night for United, who fell to a last-gasp equaliser to return to Old Trafford next week with honours even, and the young defender keenly felt that goal’s impact.
“I think this is the worst moment to concede a goal like that. We were winning 2-1, I think away this was a good score, but we go with a draw and we try to win the game at home.
“We defended really well but they are a good team, a good striker. We need to be ready for everything, but unfortunately we conceded the goal.”
Despite not hanging on to the win, United go into the second leg as favourites given the home advantage, and Yoro feels there are positives to take from tonight’s game too.
When asked what they can take from the performance into next week’s crunch tie, Yoro said: “I think to be together like that, defend really well, I think we did really well.
“It was compact, we tried to block every counter-attack, things like that we need to keep it and to give everything at Old Trafford.
“I think if we won 2-1 we would be more confident for sure. We conceded this goal, it’s difficult but we need to keep our heads up. We didn’t lose, we can win at Old Trafford.”
Featured image Michael Steele via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
