Super Sub
Manchester United advanced to Quarter Finals of the Europa League after a fine 1-0 win away at AC Milan in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie, thanks to super sub Paul Pogba’s goal.
In what is being viewed as a pivotal week in United’s hunt for a trophy this season, with an FA Cup Quarter final against Leicester City on the weekend, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team produced an outstanding performance to gain a huge result and keep their European dreams alive.
The first half was a cagey affair and The Red Devils lacked the urgency required to stamp their authority on the game.
Paul Pogba was introduced at half time, his first appearance after six weeks out with injury, and made an immediate impact.
Fred did really well to make Milan panic with a clearance and the ball fell to Pogba who dummied to shoot, created a yard of space before dinking the ball over Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Dean Henderson made one excellent save from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who also came off the bench. He rose above Luke Shaw to power a header that looked destined to hit the back of the net, but Henderson was able to fling himself up to get a hand to it.
We missed him
Speaking to BT Sport post game, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was pleased with the result and stressed the importance of Pogba to his side.
“Very happy of course. We’ve come through a very difficult tie against a fantastic club and we’ve overcome some difficulties.
“You give yourself a chance to win a game of football when you keep a clean sheet. Dean Henderson made a fantastic save towars the end and I’m very pleased with everyone’s defending. We know the back six, with the likes of Scott McTominay ad Fred, always give everything.”
“There are many good teams left but you’ve got to be spot on. It’s a cup competition and anything can happen. But we are through and we feel confident.
“We’ve missed Paul. He’s been out for almost two months and any team would miss a player like Paul Pogba. He is very important for us and he’s going to give us a big boost. He makes a very, very big difference to us.”
“We are looking forward to Sunday, it’s another quarter-final, so we will just dust ourselves down and go again.”
Be the first to comment