Pogba played a crucial role in Manchester United’s victory at Granada in the first leg of Europa League quarterfinals.
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It was not a vintage Manchester United performance, but the Red Devils were professional at Granada on Thursday night. An early goal from Marcus Rashford and a late penalty by Bruno Fernandes helped the club secure a precious 2-0 away victory in the first leg of Europa League quarterfinals. There were many stand-out performers from the night. Victor Lindelof was solid at back and his fabulous long ball helped Rashford open the scoring.
Paul Pogba was another player who had a positive impact in the game. Hence, it was surprising when Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer substituted him in the second half. With United set to travel to Spurs on Sunday, many thought it was a precautionary move. However, Solskjaer later informed that he had a little niggle.
Speaking with MUTV post-game, he also apprised about Rashford’s situation before talking about Pogba. “Hopefully they’ll [all] be okay. Of course, Marcus, as we spoke about, his foot is a bit sore, so we didn’t want to aggravate that too much,” he added. “Apart from that, Paul [Pogba] had a little niggle but he should be okay.”
Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay all picked up yellow cards, suspending them from the second leg next week at Old Trafford. “It’s not a prefect night, of course we get three yellow cards and three suspensions for the next game, but a 2-0 result is a very good result,” Ole added.
Solskjaer also heaped praise on goal scorers Rashford and Fernandes. “They’ve been exceptional, they have been so good for us and they’re so important for us,” the manager said.
“The first goal, very good run by Rashford and he takes the ball fantastically and a fantastic finish, and Bruno, I know he’s so confident on penalties. Even though the goalkeeper almost saved it, it was enough to give us a good lead.”
