PSG wary of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer effect at Man Utd as Thomas Tuchel sends warning to players

Solskjaer effect: Tuchel has warned Man Utd will be 'ready for anything'
PA
Vaishali Bhardwaj6 March 2019

Thomas Tuchel believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will use his playing experience to instil a never-say-die attitude into his Manchester United players, who the Paris Saint-Germain coach believes will be "ready for anything" on Wednesday night.

United go to the Parc des Princes needing to overturn a 2-0 deficit to book their place in the Champions League quarter-finals after being overwhelmed and comprehensively beaten by PSG in the first leg at Old Trafford last month.

That result is the only blip in United's record since Solskjaer took temporary charge of the club and, indeed, the Norwegian told reporters in the build-up to Wednesday's clash that he believes his side can cause an upset by beating PSG at home if they can score the crucial first goal.

And Tuchel is remaining wary of Solskjaer's United - and has told his team to forget about their performance in the first leg and concentrate on showing an improved display at the Parc des Princes if they want to progress.

"It’s better to always be aware of the qualities of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer," Tuchel said on Tuesday.

In Pictures | Solskjaer's Man Utd reign

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"He was one of the key players of the biggest era of this club. He was always ready to help, in 30 minutes, 20 mins, 10 or 5.

"This is the spirit of Manchester United, that they are ready for anything. They are a strong club with a strong history. It is totally normal that we respect his quality.

"It’s a big challenge for us and we can bring the result from the first match and it is a big challenge for us.

"We need to forget the first result. Luck is also a factor, but we want to make sure there’s no luck involved. It’s important to reproduce what we did well, to find the right areas and forget the result, just concentrate on the actual performance.

"We’re going to play the same game, whether we won or drew the first match. I can’t let the players be influenced by that result. You have to be 200 per cent ready. The result will be what it will be, we just have to give our best."

The Champions League remains a trophy that PSG's Qatari owners are keen for the club to win, although Tuchel doesn't think that fact nor the fact the Parisians comfortably defeated United in the first leg means his side are under more pressure than the Red Devils on Wednesday night.

In Pictures | Man Utd vs PSG | 12/02/2019

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"We don’t have a history of winning the Champions League so we don’t have that pressure," he said. "It’s like tennis, if you’ve never won Roland Garros, or won a semi-final, then you just have to turn up and show you can play.

"We played well at Old Trafford and the win was deserved and Manchester is a good team, they have won many games in the Premier League. Now it is time to play well again and we don’t want to talk about finals."

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