Amorim faces his Leighton moment.
“Any more questions, Mr Matic?”
“No, m’lud. We rest our case.” And the Serbian prosecuting counsel didn’t even need to rise from the bench in Lyon. The defendant, Mr Onana, provided enough evidence to be found guilty.
The court of public opinion certainly found the Manchester United goalkeeper culpable and their former midfielder vindicated. Onana misjudged Thiago Almada’s free-kick, then pushed a shot to Rayan Cherki to present Lyon with their late equaliser in a 2-2 Europa League draw. Matic could have been forgiven for smiling from his vantage point on the Lyon bench.
Onana had claimed United were better than Lyon, the French club felt disrespected, Matic replied that he would accept criticism if it came from a great United goalkeeper like Peter Schmeichel, David de Gea or Edwin van der Sar. But not from “one of the worst keepers in United’s history”. Onana replied that he respected everyone but had a dig at Matic, pointing out that he’d won trophies at United and Matic hadn’t. Ner ner, ner ner ner. It was more than the usual football playground name-calling. Matic had a point, highlighted by Onana’s errors.
The case of Matic versus Onana has been one of the more revealing episodes of the season. It raises the very obvious question of when is the right time to drop an underperforming keeper? It’s fraught with risk either way. Continue and mistakes may continue. Take the keeper out of the firing line – of opponents and critics – and that puts pressure on the understudy and can be difficult for the erstwhile No 1 to come back from without moving clubs. Leeds United are going through this with Illan Meslier, and it’s worth comparing the two situations.