Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised the display of Victor Lindelof in the closing stages of the Champions League first-leg defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, and said the Swede has kept his side alive in the competition.
The Red Devils were well-beaten on their own ground by the French champions last month, with quickfire goals from Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappe securing a 2-0 win for the visitors.
But with United looking ragged, Lindelof stood firm at the back and ensured that they didn’t concede any more goals.
“Against PSG, in the last 20 minutes, I know they were 2-0 up so they were happy, but I thought we held our own and Victor back there marshalled the troops, so we can go there and score a goal and make it chaotic in the last 15 or 20 minutes,” Solskjaer told United’s official website.
“He’s a big, big plus. His performances have risen and really improved.
“He’s playing more on the left side; he started really well on the right side with Phil Jones, now Chris Smalling has come in and done really well, so he’s has loads of partners to play with. I think he’s easy to play with for the other centre backs because he’s so reliable.”
Solskjaer added that instead of going to Paris looking for the 2-0 result that would take the tie to extra-time, he would instead prefer his side – who are on a club record run of eight straight away wins – go for even more goals, even if that means conceding.
“We can’t write games off, we’ve been fantastic away from home.
“We’re not going to go out without giving a fight.
”We’re going to go out there and enjoy the game. We know it’s a difficult place to come and they [PSG] played really well at Old Trafford, so it’s a great challenge for our players to go out there and show what they can do.
“We’d rather win 4-2 than try to get a 2-0. We’ve got to get to half-time better off than we are now. If you can get to 1-0 at half-time then anything can happen in the second half.”