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Fans have lauded Andre Onana after the Manchester United goalkeeper silenced his doubters with a matchwinning penalty save in his side's 1-0 win against Copenhagen.
The Red Devils were headed towards their first Champions League win of the season on Tuesday (October 24) night. Harry Maguire had given United the lead with a bullet header in the 72nd minute.
However, Scott McTominay gave away a penalty in the 90+5th minute and Old Trafford held its breath as Onana was tasked to become their hero. The Cameroonian put recent criticism of him to one side and produced a remarkable save to deny Jordan Larsson from the spot right at the death.
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The 2023 Ballon d'Or nominee has started his Manchester United career nervously, with many questioning if he's the right man to replace David de Gea. He's made several costly errors, including two in defeats to Bayern Munich and Galatasaray.
However, his performance tonight saved Erik ten Hag's side, and it wasn't just his penalty save that deserved plaudits. He also made four saves with one excellent acrobatic save to deny Danish midfielder Lukas Lerager in the 50th minute.
Onana joined the Red Devils in the summer and the burden of replacing one of the club's heroes De Gea has weighed heavy. But, fans were elated with his display tonight.
One fan went as far as to call him the world's best goalkeeper:
"Andre Onana is the best keeper in the whole wide world."
Another fan made a comparison between the Cameroonian and De Gea who he's taken United's No.1 jersey from:
"Onana has saved more penalty’s than De Gea."
Here's how fans on X (formerly Twitter) reacted to a heroic night for Manchester United's shot-stopper:
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag reacts to Onana's heroic penalty save
Ten Hag heralded Onana following his heroic performance against Copenhagen. He alluded to his performance in Manchester United's 2-1 win against Sheffield United in the league on the weekend (via The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell):
"He showed personality. He knows he didn’t match his skills and he could do better. Saturday was a very good performance, today as well, don’t forget that brilliant save second half. He is a very good penalty saver.”
Ten Hag's assistant Steve McClaren was seen shouting advice to the goalkeeper before Larsson stepped up to take the penalty. Whether the English coach played a role in the Cameroon international's incredible save remains to be seen.
However, Ten Hag touched on this in his post-match interview explaining how it was up to the Manchester United shot-stopper to come good:
"It’s his job to give him advice, coach instruction, then of course Andre has to decide.”
Onana joined Manchester United from Inter Milan in the summer for £47.5 million. He came off a brilliant campaign at the San Siro but had been unable to replicate his Ballon d'Or nominee-worthy displays for the Serie A giants until now.
The Red Devils goalkeeper has made 13 appearances across competitions, keeping three clean sheets. Tonight may have just been the turning point for the former Ajax shot-stopper.
