The European competitions are reaching the crunch stages and Manchester United fans are simply having to sit back and watch from afar.
This time a year ago, United were in Europa League quarter-final against Sevilla.
A nightmare second leg in Spain saw United crash out and the less said about this season’s Champions League results, the better.
United were dumped out in the group stage and didn’t even come third, ruling out another Europa League run.
Whether United secure European football for next season remains to be seen with Erik ten Hag’s side winning just one of the last five games.
United supporters may have turned into Borussia Dortmund’s win over Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night with two players catching the eye.
Jadon Sancho praised
Former United midfielder Marcel Sabitzer played a starring role to send Dortmund into the semi-finals.
With the game finely poised at 2-2 on the night, Sabitzer came up with a stunning cross for Niclas Fullkrug to score, pulling Dortmund level on aggregate again.
The Austrian – who spent the second half of last season on loan at United – then rifled home the winner with a superb left-footed strike.
Dortmund won 4-2 on the night and 5-4 on aggregate, booking a semi-final spot against Paris Saint-Germain.
That means Jadon Sancho is now potentially just two games away from the Champions League final.
The United winger is back on loan at Dortmund for the second half of the season after being frozen out by Ten Hag.
Sancho needed to get his career back on track with a return to Germany and he impressed former United defender Rio Ferdinand on Tuesday night.
Ferdinand told TNT Sports (16/04, 10pm) that he was looking for Sancho to step it up in a big game and he delivered.
Ferdinand added that Sancho was under a cloud upon leaving United but is now in the Champions League semi-finals, something he doesn’t think Sancho could have even predicted himself.
“We asked for Sancho to put in a performance, a lot to prove and he’s showing it,” said Ferdinand. “He’s left Manchester United under a cloud, he’s now in a Champions League semi-final against PSG. Who could have written that script? He wouldn’t have seen that coming,” he added.
Sancho stats
Sancho’s stats from Tuesday’s game may not look mind-blowing.
The winger recorded two key passes and two successful dribbles as well as one tackle, but he had no shots during the game.
Sancho was always willing to get on the ball though, recording 60 touches of the ball and attempted to make things happen in the final third.
Whether Sancho has a route back to first-team action at United is unclear and may well hinge on Ten Hag’s future.
Ferdinand is right though; Sancho was completely frozen out from September to January, spending months in the shadows at United.
To now be just a couple of games away from a Champions League final is enormous for Sancho and seeing him make an impact in such a big game is a credit to him.