Manchester United’s long-term problems at the back may have been solved after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lavished praise on Victor Lindelof.
The centre-back area has been something of a predicament at Old Trafford stretching back as far as the Jose Mourinho days.
The Portuguese was crying out for a world class defender in every transfer window.
But it wasn’t until Solskjaer’s first summer that United broke the bank to land Harry Maguire on a world record fee.
That brought with it it’s own problems though – who to pair him up with?
Eric Bailly has had limited success, while Lindelof has been the preferred man for the job.
(Image: Manchester United via Getty Imag)
The Sweden international has never been seen as the long-term suitor to go alongside Maguire, until now.
Lindelof was on-song as he and Maguire kept a very solid clean sheet in the 2-0 win over Granada on Thursday night in the Europa League quarter final clash.
And when asked who the standout performer in Spain was, Solskjaer was unequivocal in response.
“Definitely Victor,” he replied. “He kept us glued together and he was good on the ball, to command. And what a pass for the first goal.
“A fantastic goal all round. We’ve seen Marcus do that before. He had one just before from a pass from Victor as well, in behind, and very happy with the way he took it.
“It’s a foundation to build a performance from. Today we didn’t hit the levels we’re used to, but we did enough to get a good result to take back.”
Marcus Rashford struck first around the half hour mark against Granada before Bruno Fernandes’ penalty doubled the lead in the dying embers of the game.
And Solskjaer was delighted to see them pick up a late goal to ease the pressure on them going into next week’s second leg at Old Trafford.
“It was an important goal, the second one. A 1-0 lead, losing three players, is not a good position to be in,” he said.
“I don’t think we deserved those five yellow cards, but that’s happened. I’m delighted with the result, of course.
“[The second goal] is so vital away from home and we’ve created a good starting point for ourselves next week.”
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