United helping hand

though the middle, but Navas sped across to the snuff out the threat. Navas was proving a handful at both ends of the pitch and charged forward before lashing a shot just wide of De Gea’s right post.

Mourinho’s cunning plan to leave Pogba sulking on the bench for a while backfired when Herrera pulled a leg muscle attempting a backheel.

Pogba, following some quick instructions from a laptop, was sent into action. But Sanchez did his best to steal his thunder with a delightful ball to pick out Romelu Lukaku in the 25th minute.

The chance was laid on a plate, but all Lukaku could do was smash his shot high and hopelessly wide.

At the opposite end, Correa weaved inside Valencia but could only shoot straight at De Gea.

Correa threatened again just before half-time, but once again ❑ BRAZIL midfielder Fred gave another eye-catching display as Shakhtar Donetsk beat Roma 2-1 in Kharkiv last night. Reportedly a £50million target for Manchester City after his part in Shakhtar’s victory over Pep Guardiola’s men in the group stages, Fred struck the winner in this first-leg clash with a well-struck free-kick in the 71st minute. It completed an impressive comeback from the Ukrainian side after falling behind to Cengiz Under’s goal just before half-time, then losing defender Serhiy Kryvtsov to what appeared to be a serious injury.

Shakhtar were the better team in the second half and had drawn level within seven minutes when Facundo Ferreyra raced on to a superb pass out of defence from Yaroslav Rakitskiy and cut inside to finish smartly. failed to beat De Gea with what was a poor effort. De Gea then got himself in an awful mix-up with Victor Lindelof but went from zero to hero moments later to somehow tip wide Muriel’s effort that seemed destined for the top corner.

The Sevilla pressure continued after the break, with Muriel firing wide and then Franco Vazquez ruining a smart turn by curling his effort off target.

Muriel threatened again on the hour mark but once again made a mess of things by firing wide, before Gabriel Mercado headed straight at De Gea from a freekick when he could have done better.

SEVILLA Booked: MAN UNITED Referee: (4-2-3-1): (4-3-3): Booked:

Main picture: JUAN MEDINA PAIN IN SPAIN: Sanchez was unable to unlock the defence KEEP CALM: De Gea was typically composed and played a starring role in his return to his homeland while McTominay, right, challenges for the ball BOOTED: Herrera was forced off early after...