MANCHESTER UNITED took the shine out of PSG at home in Paris in the second leg feature round of 16, beating PSG 3—1, in a night seen as Manchester United night. With one away goal advantage, United cruised into the quarter final. United lost the first leg 2—0. For United interim manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and the entire United family, it was simply fantastic.
It was indeed a phenomenon night for United – trumping over highly rated PSG on home soil, against all odds to move into the Champions League quarter finals. Football pundits failed woefully in predicting the outcome of second leg. It seemed a work-over for PSG by many. With 2—0 advantage for PSG in the first leg at Old Trafford, and injury-ridden United players, expectations were that PSG would whitewash United in Paris. That was not to be.
Romelu Lukaku scored twice – first goal in second minutes, and second goal in the 30th minutes. Marcus Rashford’s 94th minute penalty after VAR review of handball by Kimpembe at the eighteen yards, gave United the win on away goal advantage.
Possibly overwhelmed by the result of the match, United interim manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “It’s a typical Manchester United night, we had a game plan, the players were really great, they were focused, they listened to all the instructions like in training, and on the pitch, they knew that we had to defend well, very low”.
“There was a lot of quality, it’s the best possible scenario with the fans, the players, the staff, everyone shares a huge pride, we knew that we would have to suffer. We saw yesterday the match between Real and Ajax, Barcelona against PSG in the past, they are scenarios that are similar and it shows that the mind in football is important”.
On BT Sport interview, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “Fantastic. The belief in the boys was what we hoped for. It was a great start – we planned to get the first goal but we didn’t expect it after two minutes. That made it open, we wanted a lot of goals”.
Sacked United manager, Jose Mourinho must be in want of words over first-class performances of United players he had written-off as not good enough for United first team line-up. Nothing really has changed in the players since Mourinho was sent packing – no new sign-on.
What has changed, significantly, with United interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge, is approach to games. He has proven by the present form of the players, style of play, selection of players to execute specific games and his game plans, that he is a better manager than Jose Mourinho.
Executing United second leg match against PSG on home soil with 3—1 defeat, with relatively unknown players in United squad, and on an explosive match, was great skill on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s part. Let Ole Gunnar Solskjaer get the United Manager’s job.
