Brazilian outlet Esporte Interativo managed to speak to two Manchester United players after the 3-1 win over Paris Saint Germain last night.
Fred and Andreas Pereira, who both had chances to start due to the absence of Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera, ended up having a big part in such a difficult away win.
The Red Devils’ achievement was deservedly credited to caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who’s been driving the club to unbelievable form since taking charge, and the Brazilian players talked about what he prepared for this special game.
“He is a guy who has lived this on the pitch as well,” Fred told Esporte Interativo. “So he passes us some security. He talked a lot with us before the game. He told us to always believe. We have to believe. Our team is very big. Of course on the other side there was also a great team with great players. But regardless of anything, we knew we could get the win, and we got that achievement.”
“Our tactic was this, to be more backed off,” said Pereira. “So they would not expect this. Play on their mistake, because in 90 minutes everything can happen. We did it. We scored the first goal, we conceded the 1-1, which was difficult for us. But when we finished the first half we spoke to be calm in the second half because we had a lot of time to score two goals. And that’s what we did.
“He’s very important for us. He is fundamental. With him we stayed very calm during the game, knowing that we were tied 1-1. But with him, as you said, it looks like we can do miracles on the pitch. Like today, everyone saw it. Everyone knows that we are a very annoying team to play against. That the game never ends until the 90 minutes.”
Both Fred and Andreas Pereira hand’t been getting much playing time at the start of the season, having 18 and 14 appearances so far, respectively. Now, with such performances in an important game like this, maybe things can change.
