Ole has faith team can pull off comeback at Nou Camp

OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer knows a thing or two about producing famous comebacks in the Nou Camp — so it’s no surprise the Manchester United boss believes his side are not out of this quarterfinal tie yet despite their defeat at home to Barcelona last night.

United will head to Spain for next week’s second leg needing a victory to have any hope of reaching the Champions League semi-finals.

However, almost 20 years on from his famous winner in the final against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp, Solskjaer believes he can pull off another escape act.

‘We’re still in this tie,’ said the Norwegian (below), who masterminded an epic comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16.

‘We’ll go there with work to be done but chances. It’s a tough one but we’ve done that before. We’ll go there with the knowledge that we can score.’

The only goal of the game came in the 12th minute when Luis Suarez’s header from a Lionel Messi cross was turned into his own net by Luke Shaw.

A fourth defeat in five games means United will have to confound the odds once again against a Barcelona side who have not lost at home in Europe for six years.

Solskjaer will also be concerned that his team failed to muster a shot on target in the Champions League for the first time since Opta stats began in 2005.

‘That little quality towards the end (was missing),’ he admitted. ‘But, you know, when you play against Barcelona, you have to play a lot without the ball and you might be a bit tired when you get the chances.

‘There were plusses and negatives. We started sloppy and a bit nervous. After their goal, we settled a bit.

‘We played well and we had some good performances from individuals in midfield.It was a great goal and great movement from Messi and Suarez. They’re a bit fortunate it comes off Luke and

changed direction. Messi is a fantastic player. You see the cross for the goal, his awareness and technique.

‘We did as well as we could against him and kept our shape. At times, it felt like a proper Man United team — the crowd were behind us, we got wide, we got crosses in the box.’

Scott McTominay was the pick of the United players on a night when Paul Pogba once again missed a chance to shine on the big stage.

And the young Scotland star is refusing to give up hope that his side can turn this tie around.

‘We’re Manchester United, you can never write us off,’ said the midfielder. ‘They’ve got top-class players but so have we.

‘They’re a top team and it’s not easy to press like mayhem but afterwards we did so, so well and credit to the boys for that.’

Apart from his contribution to the goal, United succeeded in keeping Messi relatively quiet and Chris Smalling left the Argentine star with a bloodied nose with a robust challenge in the first half.

‘We were right on the front foot,’ said Smalling. ‘We knew we had to bring that intensity to the game that they’re not used to every week.

‘The whole team, we nullified them even though they scored. We stuck to our game plan.

‘We showed them far too much respect in the first 10-15 minutes but after that we adapted.

‘For long spells, we pressed them quite high and made it difficult. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get that goal because we created chances.’

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde hailed Suarez’s matchwinning contribution at full-time. ‘It was a great header from Luis,’ he said. ‘He was fighting for every cause. He was getting stuck into the defenders, trying to work really hard.

‘We suffered but we are happy with the result. They caused us more problems in the second half. ‘Given the atmosphere and the type of team they are, it’s very hard to win here. It was a difficult and things were complicated at times.’