LONDON: Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea added another heart-stopping save to his collection as his team held a highly-impressive Sevilla side to a 0-0 draw away from home in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.

The Spain international foiled striker Luis Muriel from point-blank range at the end of the first half not long after denying Steven N’Zonzi with another breathtaking save at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, denying Sevilla a lead to take to England for next month’s return.

United forward Romelu Lukaku spurned a rare clear opening in the first period when he punted a pass from Alexis Sanchez well over the bar and the Belgian had a goal ruled out for handball late in the second.

Sevilla fired 25 shots at De Gea’s goal while United only had six attempts, only one of which was on target. United coach Jose Mourinho, however, said he did not feel his side had been fortunate to leave Spain with the tie still wide open.

“No, I’m not relieved. I think we finished the game with more space than we had in the beginning, with more chances of scoring the goal, he told a news conference.

“The stats are what they are. Sometimes you have 15 shots, but 13 of them were what I call statistic shots. So I really feel the result reflects what the game was like. If you ask me is it a good result, I say it is not good, it is not bad.”

In the night’s other game, Shakhtar Donetsk came from a goal down to beat AS Roma 2-1 after midfielder Fred netted the winner with a perfect free kick in the 71st minute.

Turkish youngster Cengiz Under marked his Champions League debut for Roma with a well-taken 41st-minute opener. But second-half strikes from Facundo Ferreyra and Fred left the tie finely balanced ahead of the return game at the Stadio Olimpico in three weeks’ time.

“My team has everything they needed to play 90 minutes at a high level so the mistakes we’ve made were mental,” Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco said. “I told the team to play the second half the way we played the first, but what I’ve seen on the pitch is that the team were happy to defend. We need to work on that problem.”

SUPERB DE GEA

The Seville crowd was ready to erupt when Muriel appeared free from markers inside the area, with the ball in perfect position for his header just a few metres from the goal.

From that spot, there was surely nothing De Gea could do to keep the hosts from opening the scoring. Only, there was.

De Gea came up with a spectacular one-handed reflex stop, quickly stretching out his right arm to parry the ball over the crossbar and stun both Muriel and the local fans.

“It was in the last minute of the first half so it was an important moment of the game,” De Gea said. “I made a save and I’m happy for that.” Muriel had nobody close to him when he jumped near the six-yard line but his firm header wasn’t placed far enough from De Gea and the goalkeeper made him pay.

In disbelief, the Colombian forward embraced the left post and closed his eyes for a few moments.

“I lament that missed chance,” Muriel said. “I could have gone for the corner but I decided to strike it harder instead of placing it. De Gea is a great goalkeeper and made a great save.”

A few moments before Muriel’s header, De Gea had already been forced to tip a header by N’Zonzi after an overhead kick from Argentine defender Gabriel Mercado over the crossbar.

The scoreless result left the tie open heading into next month’s second leg in Manchester, when Sevilla will be trying to make it to the quarter-finals for the first time and United looking to reach the quarter-finals in their first appearance in the knockout stage of the Champions League since 2014.

FANTASTIC FRED

Roma could be left ruing a poor second-half performance after allowing Shakhtar to fight back from a goal down in a tie played in freezing conditions in Kharkiv.

The Serie A team appeared to be coasting in the round-of-16 first-leg tie when Under put them ahead with his fifth goal in four games four minutes before halftime.

Yet as the temperature dipped towards minus-nine Celsius, Argentine striker Facundo Ferreyra took advantage of poor Roma defending to score with an expertly-taken goal in the 52nd minute.

That turned the game on its head and it was no surprise when Brazilian midfielder Fred showed why some of Europe’s top clubs are reportedly after him as he curled in a free kick off the underside of the crossbar to stun the visitors.

“The team performed well in the second half,” said Shakhtar’s Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca, whose side reached the knockout stage at the expense of Roma’s fellow Italians Napoli. “It wasnt easy to keep up that pace after a long winter break. The only reason we didn’t win by a bigger margin was a brilliant display from the Roma keeper.”

Roma midfielder Diego Perotti couldn’t believe his team’s transformation after the break.

“What happened between the first and second half? I don’t know, I’m asking myself that too,” Perotti said.

“Based on our first-half performance we deserved to win, and I’m very upset about the wretched second half we played. It’s all our fault, there are no excuses, we’re responsible.”

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2018