Jose builds a warrior spirit
POGBA RALLIES TO UNITED CAUSE
The buzzword for this tie on the posters around Vigo was afouteza, which translates from the local dialect as a fighting spirit to face trouble and adversity.
it is a quality that has carried Celta Vigo to their first ever european semi-final and one that Jose Mourinho believes Manchester united lacked when he took over last summer.
‘They missed this extra bit that brings resilience, that brings you fight,’ he said last week.
here, in the estadio de Balaidos last night, united showed once again how far they have come since then.
This was another resolute performance in europe, putting Mourinho’s side on the threshold of the europa League final in stockholm in three weeks’ time.
united have had little choice but to toughen up over the last 10 months, nths, driven by a manager ger who demands a warrior-like atti- tude from his s players and galvanised by a heavy fixture list.
This was gamee no 58 of a punishhing season — asas Mourinho has not tired of remindingng us — against a Celta VigoVi sideid known for their high- energy style. united were more than a match for them.
Marcus rashford will understandably take the plaudits for once again coming up with a winning goal in europe, but there was no under-estimating the role Paul Pogba played.
The big Frenchman has not dominated games for united in the way someone of his stature and ability should.
That £89million transfer fee has often appeared to hang heavily around Pogba’s neck despite his protestations to the contrary.
But he drove united forward with those thunderous runs from midfield last night, at times swatting Celta players out of his way like flies.
At the final whistle, as the television cameramen circled him and team-mates came up to shake his hand, Pogba was almost down the tunnel when he realised he had forgotten something. he jogged 50 yards back down the pitch to reciprocate the applause of the 1,500 united supporters. it was well deserved.
elsewhere, Ander herrera — whose father Pedro played for Celta — did a more than capable job of anchoring the midfield, which allowed Pogba to surge forward.
When herrera deflected Pione sisto’s shot in the second half, sergio romero produced his one important save of the night. The Argentine was playing for the 10th time in 13 europa League games and has not let his manager down yet.
in front of the keeper, united’s defence held firm and not many teams have managed that against iago Aspas and John Guidetti in europe this season. in recent weeks it may have been as patched up as the main stand at this dilapidated, 89- year- old ground where corrugated iron has replaced the roof that blew off before a game in February, but this was a third clean sheet in four games.
eric Bailly’s recovery from an ankle injury enabled Mourinho to keep his new back four together and the ivorian demonstrated the commitment that his manager has been demanding from Phil Jones and Chris smalling, the latter returning to action last night after another substitute, Ashley Young, was injured.
This was a real test of the character Mourinho is trying to forge at old Trafford. Forget that Celta Vigo are 11th in La Liga. They have been prioritising europe long before Mourinho appeared to give up on his top-four hopes.
The united manager couldn’t have asked for much more from his players after a slightly shaky start, aside from the usual problems in front of goal that have undermined united’s efforts this season.
henrikh Mkhitaryan should have scored and Jesse Lingard was also guilty of failing to beat sergio Alvarez from close range.
But Mourinho should be more than happy with this result.
When it came to showing a bit of spirit, their afouteza could not be faulted.