What Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told Manchester United players at half-time to spark comeback v Roma
Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes has revealed what Ole Gunnar Solskjær told the players at half-time to spark a comeback against Roma. The Portuguese star claims the Red Devils manager told his players to think about the tie one half at a time and try to win every single time.
Manchester United were trailing 2-1 to AS Roma at half-time last night in the UEFA Europa League semi-final. The home side made a stunning comeback in the second half and ended up winning the first leg 6-2.
Bruno Fernandes credited his Manchester United team-mates and the manager for turning things around in the second half of the match.
He was talking to the club's official website when he said:
"As the coach said at half-time, we have four halves to play – we played the first one and we lost, the second one we win and at half-time in both games [the tie] we are through, but we have two halves to play again and the mindset has to be to win that game again.
"The manager and the players, we also talk, as we said about keeping calm and doing the right things, play easy football, quick football, one and two touches and keep the head fresh and calm. Don't go mad, don't try to win the game in the first five or 10 minutes of the second half because we know we had a long way to arrive at the final.
"Like I said, before at half-time we knew we had three halves to play so the second of the four halves we ended very well. And we have to do the same in the two halves we have left to play."
Manchester United have one step in the Europa League final
With a 6-2 win last night at Old Trafford, Manchester United have one foot in the finals of the UEFA Europa League. AS Roma will have to win 4-0 at home to make it to the finals – a little more than they had to do to knock out Barcelona from the UEFA Champions league a couple of seasons ago.
In the other semi-final, Villarreal won their home leg 2-1 against Arsenal. The Gunners were down to 10 men early in the second half after Dani Ceballos was given marching orders.