MANCHESTER United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that his side hardly deserved their win over Villarreal on Wednesday night.
Paco Alcacer gave visitors Villarreal the lead early in the second half against a disjointed United side, but Alex Telles equalised before Cristiano Ronaldo netted the winning goal with virtually the last kick of the match.
“It is a massive result for the team and the spirit of the team as well,” Solskjaer said during his post-match interview.
“We gave ourselves a difficult job with the sending off in the last game [Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the defeat at Young Boys] so to get three points at home is important – now we need to get to 10 or maybe 12 to get through.”
Ronaldo, 36, was making a record-breaking 178th appearance in the competition and Solskjaer praised him for the late winner. “He has done that so many times,” Solskjaer said. “When you saw him against Ireland a [few] weeks ago [for Portugal] he missed a penalty early, didn’t touch the ball more or less, then scored two great headers in the last two minutes.
“That is just what he has done throughout his career, he is so strong mentally, he just stays in the game.
“I have seen him all day today, the way he has built himself up for this game, how focused he has been and when he gets that one chance it is a goal. He had a couple of half decent headers in the first half that could have ended up with chances but it is the mark of a true finisher that he comes alive when the chance arrives.”
With Sir Alex Ferguson among that Old Trafford crowd, it was fitting that the match was won in ‘Fergie time’, but Solskjaer knew his side were fortunate to get all three points.
“That is what happens here at Old Trafford, it’s happened so many times before,” he added. “We have to throw caution to the wind and we got lucky in the end.
“I won’t sleep well because of the adrenaline but you are on to the Everton game [on Saturday] already.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was left ruing his team’s performance in their 1-0 defeat at Juventus in another UEFA Champions League clash on Wednesday night.
The champions were undone by a Federico Chiesa goal just 10 seeconds into the second half.
“I think we started not sharp enough,” Tuchel said.
“We had possession. But I think the first 12 or 15 minutes we could have harmed them much more. We could have been much sharper and put the rhythm higher. We had two crucial ball losses where we almost gave goals away.
“You cannot have this on this kind of level. It was without any pressure. We struggled to create our own rhythm and intensity because they were so deep and passive.
“We were so good in training yesterday and not good enough, not free enough today. I don’t know why. It was a thing for the whole team. I felt we were a bit slow and tired, mentally slow for decision making. It’s a strange one to analyse.”
Chelsea, who have had just one shot on target in their past two games, had hardly settled down into the second half when Chiesa struck, and Tuchel was unimpressed.
“It is impossible on this kind of level to concede an easy goal like this in the first seconds of the second half when you know what’s coming,” the German said. “We got punished for it.”
Chelsea are second in their group with three points, and Juventus on top with six.
The champions are above Zenit St Petersburg, who thrashed Malmo 4-0 in Wednesday night’s other game, thanks to a superior head-to-head record over the Russian side.
