Paul Scholes is concerned about Manchester United's European hopes after losing Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez to injury.
Erik ten Hag's preferred centre-back partnership limped out of United's 2-2 draw against Sevilla on Thursday night. The Red Devils threw away a two-goal lead at Old Trafford and must win the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final in Spain to progress.
Scholes is confident United will reach the semi-finals but is worried about Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof coming in to replace the injured pair, as they have not played a lot of minutes this season. It's unclear when Varane and Martinez will return to fitness.
Scholes told BT Sport after Thursday night's game: "Lindelof and Maguire, that worries me slightly just because they haven’t played games. I think they’ll get through it, I think they’ll be fine, centre half is a position where you can tend to get through it."
United established a two-goal lead at Old Trafford thanks to Marcel Sabitzer's first-half brace, but late own goals from Tyrell Malacia and Maguire cost Ten Hag's side the win.
Club captain Maguire replaced the injured Varane at half-time. Martinez then appeared to suffer a serious Achilles injury late on, but Ten Hag has since confirmed this is not the case. The United boss told reporters: "No it's not that area. I can’t tell, but it's not the area of Achilles. I have spoken with him, he is okay, he is calm."
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It's unlikely Maguire and Lindelof will form a partnership at the heart of United's defence, as Ten Hag likes to play with a left-footed centre-back. As such, Luke Shaw is likely to play in the middle while Martinez is injured, with Malacia filling in at left-back.
Bruno Fernandes will not play in the second leg after picking up a one-match suspension against Sevilla. Scholes has backed Christian Eriksen, who made his name as an attacking midfielder, to provide United with a creative spark while Fernandes is unavailable.
Scholes added: "I think forward-wise we’ll be okay - Fernandes will be a miss but you have to remember Eriksen is on his way back so that is him definitely starting, that is a crucial bit of creativity in there."
Scholes also believes United will benefit from the return of Anthony Martial, who started his first game in three months on Thursday night. When fit, the Frenchman is United's first-choice centre-forward ahead of loan star Wout Weghorst.
Scholes noted: "I think they could score goals there if Martial’s fit and ready to go. Antony, I thought, was lively again tonight. I think they can still go there and win but you have to respect Sevilla for what they’ve done in European competition so I’d say at this point it’s a 50/50 game."
Sevilla have won the Europa League a record six times, with four of those triumphs coming during the last decade. They also won the European Super Cup in 2006.
