Ruben Amorim backed Andre Onana after the Manchester United goalkeeper made two crucial errors during a 2-2 draw with Lyon in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.

Before kickoff, Onana had a heated exchange with Lyon midfielder Nemanja Matic, who harshly described him as “one of the worst” in United’s history.

The Lyon supporters booed Onana throughout the match, and he failed to stop Thiago Almada’s free-kick, which gave the home side the lead. Though United turned things around with goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee, a late mistake by Onana let Rayan Cherki level the game in stoppage time.

“It can happen. If you play football, and we play a lot of games, you can make mistakes,” said United manager Amorim. “There is nothing I can say to Andre in this moment that will help.”

“We have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus,” he added.

While United maintained their undefeated record in Europe, Amorim admitted the late goal left his squad feeling disheartened.

“I felt the dressing room was really quiet and that is a good thing. We draw away in Europe, that is always hard. The team is suffering and we need to change that,” he added.

Since winning the Europa League is United’s only chance to qualify for the Champions League and secure the financial benefits that follow, the team is well aware that their season could be decided in the return leg.

“I think it’s 50-50,” said Amorim. “It’s a really difficult match but when we play at home with our fans, we play with one more player.”

Having scored his first goal for United, 19-year-old Yoro — once coached by Lyon’s Paulo Fonseca at Lille — expressed confidence in his team’s ability to seal the win.

“We know that matches like these, away from home, if we win it puts us in a really good position for the return at home,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we conceded that goal at the end so come away with a draw and will do everything to win the second leg.”

But Cherki insisted Lyon have more in store, putting United on alert ahead of the second leg.

“We deserved a lot better. We were better and from the start we felt the fear in them,” he said.

“Now we’re just waiting for one thing, to go over there to win. When they set up against us with two defensive midfielders, that means they’re afraid of us.”