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Football

06th Mar 2019

Player ratings as Man United stun PSG and knock them out of the Champions League

Robert Redmond

Wow.

Manchester United have knocked Paris Saint-Germain out of the Champions League.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, and it is his team, won 3-1 in Paris, going through on away goals.

Here’s how we rated the United players:

David De Gea – 7

The United goalkeeper made some smart saves and kept his cool under a lot of pressure all night.

Ashley Young – 7.5

Young started on the right side of midfield but played more as an auxiliary full-back. After withstanding the pummelling by PSG in the opening 30-minutes, the United veteran grew more into the game and had a steady performance, helping the defence with several interceptions and clearances.

Eric Bailly – 3

Drafted in at right-back, Bailly fell asleep as PSG scored their equaliser, losing Juan Bernat who drifted away from him to score a tap-in at the back post. In truth, the goal had been coming and Bailly was targeted with several attacks before the hosts managed to score and after the goal.

He was hopelessly out of his depth at right-back and should have been removed from the game long before he was.

Chris Smalling – 8.5

Smalling’s form has been solid in recent weeks and he was one of United’s best players on the night, making several blocks and interceptions as PSG laid siege to De Gea’s goal. He even managed to keep Mbappe relatively quiet in the second half with some important tackles. Impressive.

Victor Lindelof – 8

One of the most improved players under Solskjaer, the Swedish centre-half helped United repel PSG’s explosive attack. Another impressive display from a player getting better with every game.

Luke Shaw – 7.5

Solid performance.

Scott McTominay – 7.5

This was possibly McTominay’s most impressive game, he worked hard, kept it simple with his passing and came of age as a United player.

Fred – 7

The rarely-seen midfielder, signed for £52m last summer, got his chance due to Paul Pogba’s suspension and worked very hard in the United midfield.

Andreas Pereira – 7

Worked extremely hard and offered some much-needed defensive cover.

Marcus Rashford – 7.5

His first-half performance summed up how his team played in the opening period – he made some errors, barely had the ball but produced when it mattered, as it was Rashford’s dipping shot that led to Lukaku’s goal.

His pace meant he was always a concern to PSG’s defence and he kept his cool to score probably the most important goal of his career.

Romelu Lukaku – 9

The Belgian forward scored two goals to keep United in the tie in the first half, both of them excellent pieces of centre-forward play. For the first goal, Lukaku anticipated the pass back to Buffon in the opening minute, kept his cool to round the ‘keeper and finished calmly.

Lukaku was on hand again to restore United’s lead, capitalising on Buffon’s error to score. He was the team’s best player on the night and a constant threat.

Substitutes

Diogo Dalot – 7.5

The young full-back replaced the hapless Bailly 10-minutes before half-time and added some much-needed balance to the team. Dalot was strong going forward and helped stem the PSG attacks down United’s right-hand side.

Tahith Chong & Mason Greenwood – N/A

Not on long enough to rate.

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