‘How has he missed that?’: Harry Maguire spurns chance from a YARD OUT

Harry Maguire’s remit is to keep the ball out of Manchester United‘s net, but the Red Devils captain was left scratching his head after failing to score from a yard out in a contender for miss of the season.

United hosted AC Milan at Old Trafford in the first leg of the Europa League last 16 as the two giants battled it out for a place in the last eight of Europe’s secondary competition on Thursday night.

And the Serie A title hopefuls were superior to their English rivals in all departments but the scoreboard in a pulsating opening half, with Rafael Leao and Franck Kessie seeing goals disallowed.

Harry Maguire provided a contender for miss of the season against AC Milan on Thursday

The Manchester United captain was unable to convert from a yard out against the Italians

But United saw a golden opportunity to go into the interval ahead spurned as captain Maguire failed to convert from point blank range in a jaw-dropping sequence.

Alex Telles sent a corner into the Milan penalty box, which was flicked on by Bruno Fernandes. The ball appeared to take a slight deflection of Gianluigi Donnarumma before falling to the feet of Maguire, who directed the ball at the post before ballooning behind.

‘Wow, Harry Maguire at the back post. He has hit the post from a yard. That is quite incredible,’ Robbie Savage said while on commentary duty for BT Sport. 

‘It has come off his shin pad. How has he missed that? Was there a touch from the goalkeeper that put him off? 

The £80m man reacts after spurning the golden opportunity in the Europa League

‘But he has still got to score. What a miss. [He has] got to score.’

Football fans have taken to Twitter to react to Maguire’s miss, with supporters unanimous in concurring that the £80m should have scored.

‘Harry Maguire you have to be kidding me,’ said one user. ‘How is it even possible to miss that’.

‘My brain still hasn’t registered how Harry Maguire hasn’t scored,’ another user wrote.

Fans have taken to social media to react to the missed chance from the United captain

‘If you gave that chance to Harry McGuire [sic] another 99 times and told him to try to miss, he couldn’t do it. No-one could,’ one fan said.

Meanwhile, one supporter tweeted Professor Brian Cox to ask: ‘Can physics explain how Harry McGuire [sic] missed from a yard out?’

Maguire will hope his United team-mates can spare his blushes and secure an important advantage heading into the second leg. Teenager Amad Diallo broke the deadlock early into the second half to put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side in front.