Andre Onana appeared to indulge in a superstitious penalty ritual during Manchester United‘s defeat against Copenhagen in Wednesday night’s Champions League clash.

The goalkeeper had a difficult night at Parken as he conceded four – including a spot-kick courtesy of Diogo Goncalves – in a disappointing performance from Erik ten Hag‘s side that saw them rub out a two-goal lead after going down to 10 men.

Marcus Rashford was handed a red card inside the first-half and a man down United battled to cling onto the tie after a handball just before half-time saw Copenhagen equalise via a penalty ahead of the break.

Whilst United got back on top with their own penalty kick in the second-half, late glory from teenager Roony Bardghij saw Copenhagen beat English top-flight opponents for the first time since 2006.

But whilst Fernandes’ penalty record has seen him miss only five of the 55 spot-kicks he’s stepped up for, Onana at the other end of the pitch wanted to leave nothing to chance.

Andre Onana chose to face his own net rather than watch Bruno Fernandes step up to take Man United’s penalty on Wednesday evening

The goalkeeper had no reason to fear his captain’s impressive record from the spot as the Portugal international made it 3-2

As if nervous about Fernandes’ chances in front of goal – as any fan might be – the Cameroon international was filmed by travelling fans facing in the polar opposite direction.

Instead of watching his team-mate, the 27-year-old is filmed staring without blinking into the thicket of away fans, and opting not to react to their cheers of encouragement for Fernandes – or efforts to catch his attention.

As the video circulated on social media, supporters poked light-hearted fun at the still-as-a-statue keeper.

‘Batteries died,’ one commentor posted.

Another added: ‘It’s giving off vibes (of) when the teacher stops talking when the whole class is being too loud and just stands there waiting’.

Whilst it’s unknown if Onana was affected by nerves or carrying out a long-honoured ritual, the shotstopper has been known to observe personal rituals in the past.

Onana sports a No 24 jersey in a nod to his roots as the number two keeper after breaking through to the Ajax senior team, behind then-No 1 Jasper Cillessen.

After Cillessen’s departure and Onana’s subsequent promotion, the goalkeeper rose to the occasion but suffered a difficult season, which saw Ajax finish second in the Eredivisie.

Onana had a trying night as he conceded four away goals – after penalty heroics in the first-leg of the tie at Old Trafford

Upon re-donning the No 24, Onana kept an impressive 26 clean sheets for his former club, putting to bed any question that he might wear the jersey recently vacated by David de Gea at Old Trafford.

But Ten Hag will need his players to rely on more than luck to carry them through to the Champions League knockout stages after defeat in Denmark relegated the Red Devils to the bottom of Group A.

Man United will need to claim at least three points and hope that Copenhagen and Galatasaray share the points after their meeting in the three-horse race for second place.

After victory against all three of their group opponents, Bayern Munich have already secured qualification for the knockout stages.