OLE HAS A JAB AT OLD PAL PIQUE

OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER wants to give Gerard Pique some needle tonight – after revealing the Barcelona star is afraid of injections.

Pique (above) spent four years at United, before returning to Barcelona in 2008, and appeared alongside Solskjaer during his stint at Old Trafford. They both played and scored in a 2-0 victory for United reserves over Tottenham in 2006, when Solskjaer was 33 and Pique was 19.

On the eve of United’s showdown with Barca, Solskjaer recalled Pique’s phobia.

“I know he’s not fond of needles,” said the Reds boss. “So maybe we should put a needle out for him.”

Pique confirmed his fear of needles when he said: “That’s true, I hate them.

“I hated them since I was young, but I didn’t think he would remember that.

“After so many years of playing football you need them, because sometimes you feel pain and have to recover quickly.

“Now I’m a little more adapted to it, it’s easier than when I was younger, when I was really scared of them.”

Pique is relishing a return to Old Trafford but has warned his Barca team-mates that they need to kill off United.

“The Paris Saint-Germain tie is a great example,” Pique said.

“I watched both games, and at Old Trafford I thought PSG were the better team in the first half.

“In the second half they scored and they could have had some more goals.

“But you cannot leave Manchester United alive.

“If you can beat them scoring a lot of goals, you have to do it because they have great team, great history. And they showed in the second leg in Paris, even though they played with a lot of young lads from the academy, they won, they qualified in the last minute.”