ONE FOR THE ROAD TO GLORY
Solskjaer wants first trophy to spark glittering new United era
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER knows from personal experience how winning a first trophy can be the start of something special.
As a player, he won the Premier League in his debut season in 1996-97 at Manchester United, the first of six league titles, as well as two FA Cups and the Champions League.
Now Solskjaer is chasing his first trophy as United manager and has challenged his players to triumph in the Europa League over the next fortnight to usher in a new era of success at Old Trafford.
“It’s massive,” said Solskjaer, on the importance of winning a first trophy. “You can see when Sir Alex [Ferguson] won the Premier League for the first time, that was the start of the Premier League era.
“When I won my first trophy as a player, it made me hungrier. You saw the highs of it and how much it meant to everyone.
“As a coach, I won the league with Molde, the first time for the club in its 100-year history, and since then they’ve won it four times in eight or nine years.
“We’re four games away. The team has developed throughout the whole season.We’re delighted with finishing third in the Premier League, but the next step for this team is getting our hands on a trophy. We’ve been to two semi-finals this season, in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, and now we want to win something.”
United host Austrians LASK at Old Trafford tonight in the second leg of their last-16 tie, holding a 5-0 lead from the away leg on March 12, before the season was halted the following day.
With such a commanding advantage, United’s place in the last eight of the straight knockout format tournament in Germany – which starts on Monday – is a formality.
And it means Solskjaer can afford to rest key men tonight, with David De Gea, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial among those likely to be left out. In Cologne, United will face Copenhagen or Istanbul Basaksehir, with a potential semi-final showdown against Premier League rivalsWolves.
Solskjaer said his players are desperate to go all the way to the Europa League final on August 21, even though that will mean a short break before the new domestic campaign starts on September 12.
“The players want to play, they don’t want the break,” said Solskjaer.
“They are bothering me all the time, that they want to play. Hopefully, if we go through to the end, we can get some help and start [the new season] a bit later. But it is what it is, it’s been a special year for the whole world.
“I’ll look after the players, we’ll give the players time off to recharge, maybe a couple of weeks. These boys look after themselves anyway in the breaks they have.
“I’ve always been impressed how they look when they come back, same now after lockdown, where we have been one of the fittest teams.”