Dortmund unlock the joy of Sancho after United misery

As the Borussia Dortmund players eventually left the pitch after their customary serenading by the yellow wall, there was only one player everyone was talking about.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

There was only one player everyone wanted to talk to, as well.

By the time broadcast media eventually got to Jadon Sancho, he was inevitably asked about Manchester United. It didn’t seem like the time or place, as he made clear. He gave the right answer: “I’m focused on the present right now.”

How couldn’t he be? He’d just delivered one of the performances of the Champions League knockout stages in repeatedly destroying Paris Saint-Germain, especially the hapless Nuno Mendes. It was tortuous to watch the defender. It was exhilarating to watch Sancho. This was the player many had been waiting for.

But even though it was unfair to put questions about United to the player himself after a night like that, it is impossible for the rest of us to avoid the issue. This story is all the more remarkable because of how the season started. Nobody could have imagined Sancho putting a team on the brink of a Champions League final when he couldn’t even get close to the United first team.