Solskjaer’s Devils march on

MANCHESTER UNITED coach Ole Gunner Solskjaer praised the performance of his second-string side in reaching the Europa League quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over LASK yesterday.

United had a 5-0 lead from their first leg played in March and will face FC Copenhagen who enjoyed a 3-0 victory on the night over Istanbul Basaksehir in their last 16 tie.

Usual starters such as Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were named on the bench while the likes of Jesse Lingard and Fred started at an almost empty Old Trafford.

“It was a good excercise, , minutes under the belt and ready to travel,” Solskjaer told broadcaster BT Sport.

“The sharpness you lack when you don’t play regularly. Some of these haven’t really played since lockdown. They played last time against Norwich which is a month ago,” he added.

The Linz-based outfit had to wait until the second half to break the deadlock as defender Philipp Wiesinger rifled into the top corner from outside the box after 55 minutes.

Their celebrations were shortlived as Lingard equalised on the counter attack for United three minutes later.

Martial claimed the matchwinner with two minutes to go despite LASK goalkpeer Alexander Schlager getting a foot to the France striker’s shot.

“We expected them to come out flying and aggressive,” the United boss told manutd.com.

‘It’s difficult when they haven’t played for a while, our players.

They’ve been in and out, 10 or 15 minutes each but not many have played 90 minutes and definitely not together as a team.

“It took some time before we got the rhythm but we won the game and that’s job done.”

The United manager is looking forward to the quarterfinal with Copenhagen, which will be a one-legged affair, as will all the remaining matches in the tournament.

“I know Stale (Solbakken, their manager) really well. A good friend of mine.

“I did my pro licence study with him in Copenhagen, so I know what there is to know about Stale probably.

“And he probably knows what there is to know about me! I’m looking forward to it.” – AFP/Agencies