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Back in the autumn who would have thought that Manchester United would have representation in the Champions League longer than Manchester City or Arsenal? It didn't look likely as Erik ten Hag's team made a mess of a routine group and their domestic rivals cruised through the competition.

And nobody at United is going to be pushing their lone Champions League survivor too far. You won't see any social media content claiming it as a moral victory. Jadon Sancho's presence in the semi-finals has gone unreported and unmentioned on club channels.

But Sancho is one of four Englishmen still standing in the competition when all the English teams have gone. He is on loan at Borussia Dortmund from Old Trafford, with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens also in the Dortmund squad and Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham the star men at Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

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Sancho playing a key role in Dortmund's best European run in years is just the kind of thing that is happening to United this season. While Ten Hag's team stumbles from one disappointment to the next, a £73million winger forced to use academy dressing rooms and eat his lunch out of a cardboard box before the January transfer window opened is within touching distance of becoming a European champion.

If Dortmund were to get the better of Paris St-Germain in the semi-finals and win the Wembley showdown on June 2 then imagine being a fly-on-the-wall if Sancho returned to Carrington in pre-season and was greeted by Ten Hag. That would be awkward.

It is still a way away at the moment. First of all, Dortmund would need to win the competition. Then Sancho

Jim Ratcliffe Gary Neville Jadon Sancho Jude Bellingham Paris St Germain