Andre Onana is a mix of the exceptional and the excruciating – much like Manchester United

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Andre Onana has defined Manchester United’s Champions League campaign more than any other player.

After the final whistle at Galatasaray’s Rams Park on Wednesday night, and the end of a chaotic 3-3 draw, he stood alone in his penalty area, hands on hips, before throwing his gloves to the ground and clutching his face. For him, this has been an all too familiar scene in European play this season.

Onana has been a curious cocktail of exceptional and excruciating in United’s first five Champions League group matches. There have been pirouettes on the halfway line and last-minute penalty saves, yet these moments have been combined with an all too familiar tendency of not preventing the goals you would expect him to save. It has been captivating but chaotic, much like United’s season to date.

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United have now conceded 14 times in the Champions League. Only Group H’s Antwerp have a worse record, with the Belgian side shipping 15 in losing all five of their five matches.

Away to Galatasaray, in a game United could not afford to lose, Onana — whose style has always invited an element of risk — found himself under the microscope once again.

United’s first goal of the night, scored by Alejandro Garnacho, started with Onana passing out from the back. This is what manager Erik ten Hag must have pictured when he decided to let David de Gea leave as a free agent and replace him with the former Inter Milan player he had worked with previously at Ajax.

Onana appearing on the halfway line during the first half, calmly turning away from an opponent before spraying a pass out to Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right flank, would have had Ten Hag licking his lips, but just about everyone else holding their breath.

The United manager described his side’s attacking performance on the day as “dynamic” and “brave”, which it was, with all three of their goals being of exceptional quality, but they were undone by costly errors at the back — and that has been the main theme of their Champions League campaign.

And unfortunately for Onana, he has been at the heart of it.

After United lost 4-3 away to Bayern Munich in September’s first group game, where the Cameroonian was the direct cause of the eventual Group A winners scoring far too easily, he came out and took responsibility. “I let the team down,” he said, “it’s because of me we didn’t win this game.”

United were impressed by Onana’s admission in Munich, thinking it highlighted the strength of his character. There was no such responsibility-taking in the wake of United’s latest self-implosion, though.

The first of Hakim Ziyech’s two free kick goals saw Onana wrong-footed and initially diving in the wrong direction.

For the second, it is hard to ascertain exactly what the 27-year-old was attempting to do. However you break it down, the lasting image is one of him seemingly patting the ball into his goal.

It could be argued that for Galatasaray’s third, the equaliser scored by Kerem Akturkoglu, Onana’s positioning was off, leaving too much of a gap between himself and his near post, which is where the strike was directed.

Another heart-in-the-mouth moment for United fans came when Mauro Icardi was played in over the top before Onana fell backwards when trying to make the save. Fortunately for him, an offside flag spared his blushes.

“We concede really bad goals,” said United captain Bruno Fernandes, who conceded both the free kicks Ziyech scored from with needless fouls, when asked about his team’s collective performance. “Everyone has to step up and take responsibility for their own mistakes.”

Onana’s errant pass in the reverse fixture, a 3-2 defeat in early October, led to Casemiro having to commit a tackle that gave away a penalty and saw the Brazilian red-carded. He then fell over when attempting to save Icardi’s chipped winner.

There was a sense that Onana had turned a corner following the 1-0 win at home to Copenhagen three weeks later, when he made a last-minute penalty save to deny Jordan Larsson before being mobbed by his team-mates. “I was just doing my job, being calm, not under pressure and making myself big, waiting as long as possible and making the save,” he said afterwards, in a markedly different tone to his post-match interview in Germany.

According to Opta, Onana has made seven errors leading to opposition goals in the Champions League since 2018-19. This is four more than the next player on the list for that metric, Bayern’s Manuel Neuer.

Onana’s mistakes in Europe have been costly, with United now needing to beat Bayern in Manchester on December 12 — while having to rely on Copenhagen and Galatasaray drawing their fixture in Denmark that night — if they are to qualify for the competition’s knockout stages.

His performance in Istanbul showcased his very best and absolute worst. The midfield play was great; the goalkeeping? Not so much.

(Top photo: Seskim Photo/MB Media/Getty Images)