Former Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic savagely branded Andre Onana “one of the worst goalkeepers” in the club’s history in a brutal take-down. The now-Lyon star, preparing to face his previous employers United in the Europa League on Thursday, was asked about Onana in his pre-match press conference and gave a very honest verdict.
Onana was brought in from Inter Milan, following their run to the 2023 Champions League final, for an initial £43.8million. His first two seasons at Old Trafford, however, have brought mixed results. The 29-year-old has played every Premier League game this campaign and kept nine clean sheets, only bettered by Mats Selz (13) and David Raya (11).
But Onana’s comments, claiming that United are superior to their Ligue 1 opposition, were put to Matic only for the Serbian veteran to reply: “Onana said they’re way better than us? When you are one of the worst goalkeepers in Man United history, you need to take care (about) what you’re talking about.
“If it was [Edwin] Van der Sar, [Peter] Schmeichel or [David] De Gea saying that, okay, but Onana, he’s one of the worst.”
Onana made the bold claim that United are “way better” than Lille, despite their miserable season while languishing 13th in the Premier League table.
“We all know the importance of this game, so we will go there with a winning mentality,” Onana said. “It’s not our best season, but we still have something big to win, so we will go for it.
“It’s a very good team; we know some of them, but I don’t think we have to focus about them. It’s more about us, what we’re going to do. I think we are better than them, we just have to go there and show who we are.
“If we go there with a winning mentality and we are focused, we stay compact together and we follow the game plan, we will be winning the game. Of course, it’s not going to be easy, but I think we are way better than them.”
Matic continued to hit out at United in addition to their goalkeeper, claiming that the club were not focused on winning trophies during his five years in red between 2017 and 2022.
“The difference I felt after Chelsea was that, at Chelsea, everything was about the result and winning trophies,” he said. “At United, it was more commercial-minded. I started to think that after a couple of months in the club.
“I understand that our salary needs to be paid, but I felt that the results were not the focus like it was at Chelsea. I maybe did two commercial jobs at Chelsea, at United it was far more.
“I arrived at United with the anger to win trophies like I had at Chelsea, but step by step I started to feel that trophies were not the focus. Maybe I’m not right, but that was my feeling inside.”
