TheCable

Manchester United held a wasteful Sevilla side who missed a host of chances to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Uefa Champions League Round of 16 clash held at the Roman Sanchez Pizuan stadium in Spain.

Mourinho, as was expected, fielded a defensive-minded team with Spanish midfielder, Ander Herrera favoured ahead of their influential playmaker Paul Pogba, while January signing Alexis Sanchez made his first Champions League appearance for the Mancunians.

Vicenzo Montella, on the other hand chose striker Luis Muriel over Wissam Ben Yedder to lead the attack in his first Champions League match as a coach.

Luis Muriel’s selection almost paid dividend early on as his low shot creeping in but David De Gea was equal to it at full stretch. Chances were far-fetched an in between, but Sevilla were showing more attacking intent than a United side who always had eight men behind the ball.

Mourinho’s men were looking to catch the Spanish side with long balls over the top and nearly achieved that in the 24th minute, Lukaku blasting high and wide from a wonderfully lobbed Sanchez pass which freed him in Sevilla’s penalty area.

The game was turning into a scrappy encounter with tackles flying and players crumbling all over the pitch like the game was a diving competition. Vicenzo Montella’s side however ended the first half in control but were denied by two wonder reflex saves by United’s Spanish goalkeeper, De Gea.

The second half continued just like the first ended, Sevilla on the attack and United holding out at the back, and Muriel and Correa wasted two good opportunities to put the home side in front, shooting wide from good positions. Mourinho waited until less than a quarter of the game left before making changes, wingers Rashford and Martial coming on to add pace and trickery to a flat attack.

For all the Spanish team’s dominance, a finisher was missing but their top scorer, Yissam Ben Yedder was rooted to the bench.

The wasteful Muriel was replaced by Sandro Ramirez on loan from Everton and he had a shot blocked few minutes after. United gained more attacking confidence in the last five minutes but devoid of a concrete opportunity while maintaining their defensive solidity to end the game just as it started, a 0-0 draw with all to play for at Old Trafford in the return leg.

In a more entertaining game, Shakhtar Donetsk dominated the game and edged the scoreline, winning 2-1 to gain an advantage over Italian Serie A side, AS Roma.

The Ukrainians have not lost at home in the UCL this season, defeating the trio of Manchester City, Feyenoord and Italian League leaders Napoli, but had to rely on goalkeeper Alexander Pyatov to stop a certain Roma goal in the 5th minute, going down instinctively to stop Dzeko’s shot from a corner.