PSG BOSS: THIS UNITED ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO MOURINHO’S TEAM

THOMAS TUCHEL admits Paris SaintGermain are preparing to face a very different Manchester United — and Paul Pogba — at Old Trafford tonight from when the Champions League last 16 draw was made in December. PSG were paired with United the day before Jose Mourinho was sacked, and caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has engineered a remarkable turnaround. No one has benefited more than Pogba, who has led the United revival with eight goals and five assists. ‘I don’t think there’s any surprise about Paul Pogba being a key player for Manchester United,’ Tuchel said. ‘He’s an incredible player with wonderful qualities. He’s capable of making a difference. ‘You can see that now he is becoming a true leader. He loves playing for this club and it’s really impressive. ‘Things are completely different now. You can see that Manchester United play with a lot of confidence and get a lot of early leads. ‘It’s an impressive run and to play in this moment at Old Trafford is one of the toughest challenges that you can have. ‘We were in extremely good shape when we ended our group campaign and now things have completely changed. I said then that we shouldn’t talk about Manchester United in December and January. Talk about them in February. ‘I didn’t analyse the United team under Mourinho because the game was too far away in December. All the games I have watched are Solskjaer games. ‘He was a super dangerous player on the field. He won games and he’s doing the same as a manager.’ Tuchel must do without the world’s most expensive player in Neymar and another key figure in Edinson Cavani through injury. However, he insisted that PSG cannot place too much burden on the shoulders of young Kylian Mbappe, 20. ‘Would Manchester United miss Pogba or

Marcus Rashford if they weren’t there? Of course,’ he said. ‘You can’t replace quality players like this. ‘Neymar is one of the key players in Europe and we will miss him a lot. Now we miss a second player in Cavani. ‘But it’s not really Mbappe’s job to replace Cavani and Neymar. You can’t just place all the burden and pressure on him.’ Tuchel can also call on Angel di Maria, whose £59.7million move to United flopped before he left Old Trafford for PSG in 2015 after one season in England. Di Maria claimed yesterday that United ‘didn’t let me have my best time there’ and his team-mate Julian Draxler said the Argentine will be fired up. ‘I was asking him some questions about Manchester United,’ said Draxler. ‘I won’t tell you what he said but he will be ready. He has a lot of respect for the club, there’s nothing terrible in what he said, but it was between me and him.’