Harry Maguire played as a striker alongside Cristiano Ronaldo as he came on for Manchester United.
As Manchester United attempted to score a second goal against Real Sociedad at San Sebastian, Harry Maguire was used as a temporary striker.
To win their Europa League group and avoid facing a play-off against a team from the Champions League, United needed to defeat Sociedad by a score of two goals or more.
With an assist from his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, 18-year-old wonderkid Alejandro Garnacho gave the Red Devils a 1-0 lead in the opening period.
David de Gea produced a magnificent double save to deny Sociedad, who went on to win the group on goal differential after both teams finished with 15 points.
But they had to resist a lot of pressure from United, who took route one fully in an effort to score the crucial goal.
Garnacho and Christian Eriksen were substituted in favor of captain Maguire and Fred in the 82nd minute.
In the closing minutes, the England international was paired with Ronaldo up top as United urgently tried to get their No. 5 on crosses and long balls all the way up to the 95th minute.
In order to tie the play into some truly fantastic sequences, Maguire also found himself straying into wide places during his unexpected cameo. Reactions to Erik ten Hag’s “Plan B,” which saw Maguire playing up top, flooded Twitter.
Maguire created havoc and amusement but was unable to assist United in scoring the crucial goal. They will now compete in the Europa League knockout play-off stage and may have to play two-legged matches against teams like Barcelona, Juventus, Ajax, Sevilla, or Sporting CP.
On Monday, the draw will take place in Nyon, Switzerland.
