Manchester United were held 0-0 in southern Spain last night as we drew 0-0 with Sevilla in the first leg of our Champions League second round tie.
Jose Mourinho appeared to set up to shut up shop for the first 70 minutes before bringing on Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial late in the game.
The tactics failed to produce a win as we mustered only two shots on target and now have to host the La Liga side in the second leg without an away goal in three weeks’ time.
Whilst many can look back at Jose Mourinho winning the Champions League on two previous occasions, one of these was all the way back in 2004. Back then, the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Zinedine Zidane, Unai Emery and Antonio Conte hadn’t even began their managerial careers, whilst Massimiliano Allegri had only just completed his first.
Last night’s result is the fifth time in his career that Jose Mourinho has recorded a 0-0 draw in the first leg of a knockout Champions League tie. On the four previous occasions he has only progressed once. That was the first and with a 1-0 win at Deportivo La Coruna in the second leg of FC Porto’s semi-final tie in 2004.
25% – Jose Mourinho has only progressed once from four Champions League knockout ties after drawing the first leg 0-0.
— Barrie's View (@BarriesView) February 22, 2018
Mourinho’s teams have since been dumped out of Europe on three successive occasions after drawing the first leg 0-0, as follows:
Chelsea 2004-05
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea
Internazionale 2008-09
Internazionale 0-0 Manchester United
Manchester United 2-0 Internazionale
Chelsea 2013-14
Atletico Madrid 0-0 Chelsea
Chelsea 1-3 Atletico Madrid
Fortunately, on this occasion, we have the much better team on paper than our opponents and that Sevilla have a woeful record on the road this season. Here at Red Rants we are confident of progressing through this tie when we host the Spanish outfit in three weeks’ time!
