Solskjaer raves about players after Manchester United win at PSG

It’s been a rough month or so for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, so it was a relief to see him smile after Manchester United again proved to be a sort of Kryptonite for Paris Saint-Germain.

Marcus Rashford’s late goal gave the Red Devils a 2-1 win against last season’s UEFA Champions League runners-up as the two sides kicked off their group stage in Paris on Tuesday. a

[ RECAP: PSG 1-2 Manchester United ]

It didn’t quite measure up to the Rashford-inspired comeback win over PSG in the 2018-19 Champions League, but it was still nice.

“We win against a fantastic team,” Solskjaer said (video at bottom of post). “The last time was a knockout and the euphoria was different. Now there’s no fans. It’s sterile. There’s no one here to celebrate but still the players here were excellent, concentrated on a job, took on board what we wanted, and I think we deserved to win.”

Solskjaer took some risks, giving Axel Tuanzebe a first appearance since December 2019 against three of the best attackers going: Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Angel Di Maria.

Goalkeeper David De Gea was also strong, and Bruno Fernandes made the most of his second chance at a penalty following a Keylor Navas save that came with the PSG keeper leaving the line a bit early.

“When you go away against a team like this, against players like Neymar and Mbappe, we know we’ll have to defend well and David will have to make a few saves,” Solskjaer said. “Sometimes you’ll have to get in a foot race with Mbappe and you’ll have to run with him. We knew Axel’s qualities and he’s a top defender and his first game in 10 months which is a testament to the quality he has.”

Now United looks to build on two-straight wins when it plays Chelsea at the weekend as the next match in a brutal run of fixtures.

He’s happy with all three points in Paris, and how could he not be thrilled?

“We know that to get through you probably need 10 points, so next week against RB Leipzig will be very, very important for us. But we have Chelsea, and then Arsenal after, so we have so many games and I’m very happy that I have so many good players to pick from.”

"The players were excellent, I have to say."

"I think we deserved the win."

"The next game against Leipzig will be very very important for us."

Three BIG points for Ole Gunnar Solskjær's men. The boss was happy with what he saw 👊 pic.twitter.com/2gtZ5DgNKN

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 20, 2020