Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STARS IN STRIPES
Rashford puts his Marc on Euro opener with winner as brilliant United get off to a flying start for Solskjaer
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer’s love affair with Paris continued – thanks once again to Marcus Rashford.
The city of love will always have a place in Solskjaer’s heart, having played host to the unforgettable victory back in 2019 that earned him the United job full-time.
On that occasion it was Rashford whose penalty in added time sealed an historic 3-1 win for United – and it was the forward who was the match-winner again with a stunning late strike. United were in command of this group stage opener until Anthony Martial’s own goal ( below) handed Paris Saint-germain a route back into the game that their performance did not merit.
Just as when he masterminded that epic 3-1 win over PSG 19 months ago, Solskjaer was missing key personnel here, which made this mature display all the more impressive.
S kipp er Harr y Maguire, Mason Greenwood, Eric Bailly, Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani all failed to make the trip, which meant Solskjaer was forced to shuffle his pack again.
The United boss made a bold call in selecting Axel Tuanzebe for his first appearance in 10 months, after a lengthy injury lay-off, while there was a debut for deadline day signing Alex Telles.
In the absence of Maguire, playmaker Bruno Fernandes was handed the captain’s armband , with R ashford and Martial leading United’s attack on their return to the Champions League.
The first chance fell to the hosts after 11 minutes, the ball finding its way out to former United winger Angel Di Maria, who forced a decent save at full stretch from David De Gea.
A minute later and De Gea p r o du c e d a n e v e n more impressive stop, denying Layvin Kurzawa at point-blank range after a fine in-swinging cross from Kylian Mbappe.
United absorbed that early pressure and were handed a chance to take the lead in the
21st minute when they were awarded a penalty after Martial was brought down.
Fermandes missed from the spot, as he did against Newcastle at the weekend, but was handed a reprieve after PSG keeper Keylor Navas came off his line early.
Stand-in-skipper Fernandes atoned for his miss by rolling the retaken spot-kick past Navas to give United the lead with his 10th goal in last 12 games in Europe.
The French champions were strangely subdued, with United taking full advantage to seize control of the game and nullify the threat of PSG’S famed front three of Neymar, Mbappe and Di Maria.
When PSG did threaten, United were able to handle the danger, never more so than the 35th minute when Tuanzebe executed a perfectly-timed challenge to thwart Mbappe, who was in full flow.
Fernandes almost beat Navas for the second time i n the 39th minute, unleashing a dipping goal-bound effort which the Costa Rica keeper did well to turn past his left-hand post.
United went close again from the resulting corner, a Scott McTo m i n a y h e a d e r taking a deflection and rolling just wide, the visitors holding their lead at the break. De Gea produced another majestic save two minutes after the restart to divert an Mbappe shot, as PSG f inal ly showed greater urgency after the restart.
That urgency was duly rewarded in the 55th minute when Martial headed a Neymar corner into his own net, leaving De Gea with no chance.
Martial had a chance to make up for that error a few minutes later, but headed over from a Luke Shaw cross.
Rashford sealed the win with his sublime 87th-minite finish, as United put their difficult domestic start to the season firmly behind them with this seismic win.