Joshua Zirkzee insists it would be ‘ridiculous’ for Andre Onana’s team-mates to blame him for the two goals Manchester United conceded in the Europa League draw in Lyon on Thursday night.
Onana was at fault for failing to keep out Thiago Almada’s free kick and then spilled a shot from Georges Mikautadze in the dying seconds which allowed Rayan Cherki to equalise after Zirkzee thought he had won it with a late header.
But United boss Ruben Amorim said afterwards that he still has confidence in Onana, and Zirkzee insisted the rest of the players are also firmly behind the Cameroon keeper.
‘One hundred per cent,’ said the Dutchman. ‘We’re one team, so we’re not going to take someone out for making mistakes. That’s ridiculous.
‘To draw in this way is always a little bit, I don’t want to say frustrating, but it hurts for it to go this way. But we just have to focus on the next game and that’s Newcastle away. And then we all know what we have to do when we face Lyon again at home next week.’
Zirkzee believes United will have the advantage going into the second leg at Old Trafford as they chase the one piece of silverware still available to them this season and the opportunity of qualifying automatically for next season’s Champions League.
Andre Onana cost Man United again on Thursday night as his two errors led to Lyon goals
Joshua Zirkzee insists the Man United dressing room are fully behind team-mate Onana
‘We have to win it, we all know that. There’s no way around that. It’s the only thing we have to do,’ he said. ‘I’m sure with the full support of the stadium it’s going to be difficult for them and easier for us, but they’re a great team, let’s not forget that. It’s not going to be easy but we all want to win, we have to win, so we’ll see.’
Zirkzee’s goal was his seventh of the season since joining United for £36.5million from Bologna in the summer, and he revealed that his 88th-minute header was the result of some extra practice during the week. After connecting with Bruno Fernandes’ cross to put United 2-1 up, he pointed to his head and then the bench.
‘I did a bit of training and it was the exact way I trained my headers this past week,’ he added. ‘So it was, yeah, if you want to call it coincidence, but for it to happen this way was very nice.
‘The goals are always great but in the end we have to win – that’s the priority.’
