David de Gea ensured that Manchester United came away with a 0-0 draw against Sevilla in the first leg of their last 16 tie in the UEFA Champions League at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium on Wednesday evening.
De Gea made a number of brilliant saves in the first half of the game in Spain to keep Jose Mourinho's men in a game that they were never interested in trying to win and were happy to settle for the goalless draw.
Mourinho though will be very happy with the outcome of the first leg as he will like his team's chances of winning the second leg at Old Trafford in three weeks time.
Mourinho made big calls with his team for the game
The big news before the game came with the team news as Paul Pogba, returning to the squad after recovering from illness at the weekend, made only the bench, much to the dismay of many people, as Mourinho handed starts to Ander Herrera and Scott McTominay in midfield.
As was expected before the game, the hosts made a really good start to the game as Luis Muriel forced De Gea into a very good save from long range.
Herrera was forced off injured after a frantic start to the game
The fast nature of the game showed in the first twenty minutes as Herrera, who only made his comeback from injury in this game, had to be substituted with a hamstring injury and he was replaced by Pogba.
United did finally come into the game more after the break in play due to the injury and they created a good chance when a great pass from Alexis Sanchez found Romelu Lukaku in the box, but from close range, the striker volleyed the ball over the bar when he should have done much better.
De Gea the hero for United again as he kept the game goalless at half-time
That though seemed to only ignite the home side into playing even better as De Gea was forced into two fantastic saves just before half-time to keep the visitors in the game.
The first big save came when United failed to clear a corner and that allowed the home side to keep it in the box and the ball went to Steven Nzonzi in the box and his flicked header saw De Gea at full stretch, keep the ball out of the net.
The second chance though was the one for the home side as a brilliant cross from Jesus Navas found Muriel unmarked in the box and just as the striker thought he had headed the ball into the back of the net, De Gea got a strong hand to the ball to keep the game goalless at half-time, much to the relief of everyone connected at United.
The hosts continued to press for the opening goal at the start of the second half
The hope was that the second half was going be much better for United but that didn't materialise as the home side kept pressing forward looking to score.
They found it hard though to break through a stubborn United defence as the best chance they created fell the way off Antonio Sanabria, found himself on the end of a great cross, but he put his header off the bar when he should have hit the target.
Stubborn Reds saw the game out perfectly much to the delight of Mourinho
That was as good as it got the home side in the second half as they became very frustrated towards the game looking for a goal which was a good thing for United as that is exactly how Mourinho wanted his side to play throughout the game.
Therefore, the game ended in a stalemate, which will make Mourinho very happy as he will have the belief in his players that they can finish the job in the second leg but it won't be easy as the Sevilla will go to Old Trafford with aspirations of causing a massive shock to get through to the quarter-finals.