De Gea keeps United afloat

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea added another heart-stopping save to his collection as his team held a highly-impressive Sevilla side to a 0-0 draw away from home in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.

The Spain international foiled Colombian striker Luis Muriel from point-blank range at the end of the first half not long after tipping over an overhead kick from Argentine defender Gabriel Mercado as the Spaniards created far more chances than Jose Mourinho's side.

Sevilla fired 25 shots at De Gea's goal while United only had six attempts, only one of which was on target. United coach Jose Mourinho, however, said he did not feel his side had been fortunate to leave Spain with the tie still wide open.

"No, I'm not relieved. I think we finished the game with more space than we had in the beginning, with more chances of scoring the goal,” he told a press conference. "The stats are what they are. Sometimes you have 15 shots, but 13 of them were what I call statistic shots. So I really feel the result reflects what the game was like. If you ask me is it a good result, I say it is not good, it is not bad."

The second leg takes place at Old Trafford on March 13 with Sevilla hoping finally to get past the last-16 barrier they have failed to overcome in three previous attempts.

Muriel paid tribute to De Gea for denying him and said he was disappointed his side did not take their chances.

"He moved his body well, I could have hit it in the corner but I went for power over placement and he's a great goalkeeper," Muriel said. "When you play matches like this the key is scoring in these little chances like that, but in general the team played very well. We played exactly as you should: we were disciplined in every stage of the game but we leave here feeling a little bitter that we couldn't score."

Mourinho believes his side owe their fans another great Champions League occasion at Old Trafford after a long absence from the knockout stages and the Portuguese pledged to give it to them in the second leg.

"We now have one match to decide everything at Old Trafford. For sure, Old Trafford misses knockout Champions League. So I think Old Trafford needs a big Champions League night, and that's going to happen," Mourinho told reporters.