Man United win 2-1 at Paris Saint-Germain after late Marcus Rashford strike; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: "These boys can play. They enjoyed it....it's taken a bit of time to get going. But we've certainly got our form back."
Wednesday 21 October 2020 11:24, UK
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has sent a warning to Manchester United's rivals, declaring his team have "got their form back" after beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-1.
Marcus Rashford fired United to another memorable victory in the French capital as Solskjaer's men started their European campaign with a bang.
After a season away from European football's top table, United returned to action at the Parc des Princes, where just 19 months ago they secured one of their greatest comebacks in this competition.
Back-to-back home defeats in the Premier League, including a shambolic 6-1 hammering at the hands of Tottenham, had left Solskjaer with questions to answer. However, a 4-1 win at Newcastle at the weekend followed up by this impressive result against last year's Champions League runners-up has got the club moving in the right direction.
Solskjaer feels his team are now hitting full stride after a shaky few weeks. They play Chelsea next on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
He said: "These boys can play. They enjoyed it. Attitude, work rate... you know the team spirit has been fantastic since they've come back from the international break so it's been brilliant.
"I'm just happy for them. I know we have quite a few possibilities in the way we're playing of course and you have to look at the opposition and how you want to play. I felt we played it right as we wanted it and all credit to them.
He added: "We looked at this game as a possibility, it's early on and we've all seen that the teams who played in Europe at the end of last season, it's taken a bit of time to get going. But we've certainly got our form back."
Axel Tuanzebe's display in particular against the French champions caught the eye.
In the absence of Harry Maguire and Eric Bailly, the 22-year-old was playing his first game for United since featuring against Colchester in the EFL Cup in 2019, and he kept Neymar and Kylian Mbappe relatively quiet.
Solskjaer was impressed. He said: "To see Axel play as he has done, it's an unbelievable performance by him. He's only trained for a couple of weeks and he's absolutely spot on. And you can see Alex, on his debut, what he's going to give us. His delivery was great and in midfield, Scott [McTominay] and Fred... it's difficult for me to pick out. It's the team, because every single one played their part in this.
"Axel's a tremendous defender, a great leader. He's come through the Academy and we've known for years that he's going to be a top player for us and he's got the character and the attitude that a Man United player should have."
