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Hannibal Mejbri’s start to life in Spain had a familiar ring to it.
With Sevilla already 4-1 down on the night, the United youngster entered the fray in the 62nd minute.
In typically over-exuberant fashion, the Tunisian made an instant impact on proceedings. The name Mejbri entered the referee’s notebook after being on the pitch no longer than one minute.
It is unlikely that this will be the last time a Liga official will have to take note of his name.
The midfielder’s introduction was eerily reminiscent of his substitute appearance against Liverpool at Anfield in 2022. Like his new team, United were being hammered 4-0 at Anfield when the youngster was brought onto the pitch.
As The Manchester Evening News reported, “the 19-year-old came on for his second senior United appearance and certainly left his mark. The Tunisia international crashed into Jordan Henderson and Andrew Robertson to earn himself a booking during his 10-minute cameo”.
The actions of the then teenager were met with praise by Sky Sports commentator, Gary Neville, when he asserted, “that kid came on and he showed something. He reminded me of Nobby Stiles and of Eric Harrison and the basic principles of being a football player. Compete, win your duels, fight for every ball”.
However, it was possible the pundit was just ecstatic to see any sort of life in a tale of limp defeats under Ralf Rangnick.
In respect to tonight’s game, Sevilla were mauled by table-topping story of the season, Girona. Artem Dovbyk scored an incredible six minute first half hat-trick in response to Sevilla’s shock early goal.
The ball would find the net two more times for the Catalan side, as Sevilla slipped to their eleventh defeat of the season and sit just a point and one place above the relegation zone.
Mejbri played 28 minutes in total and received a Sofascore rating of 6.6.
The midfielder had 25 touches and completed 84% of his 19 passes to his new teammates. He completed one of his two dribble attempts and also won half of his four ground duels.
However, the early yellow card will surely be the main talking point of his La Liga bow.
In the interest of fairness, the game was well over by the time Hannibal stepped onto the pitch, so minutes in his legs will probably be worth the yellow.
Next up for Hannibal and Sevilla is a tantalising away day to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter final. Hopefully the young Tunisian will have a better day at the office then.
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