Milan: Paul Pogba made a superb return from a long injury layoff to score in Manchester United’s 1-0 win over AC Milan as they progressed to the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday night. Milan had secured a vital 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last week but failed to milk it with United edging ahead on 2-1 aggregate.
Pogba was nursing a hamstring issue and spent over five weeks on the sidelines before making his return from the bench in the second half. And four minutes after being introduced in place of Marcus Rashford, the Frenchman made a telling impact firing the ball into the net from a close range in the 48th minute.
Former United tar Zlatan Ibrahimovic also made his competitive return from a thigh injury. However, despite his threatening presence, Milan failed to find the equaliser with the visitors holding onto their slim lead.
The Swede entered the field after 65 minutes, replacing Samu Castillejo and seven minutes later, met a cross from Hakan Calhanoglu with his head but United goalkeeper Dean Henderson did well to punch that effort away to safety.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was a happy man and praised Pogba for the impact he made on the contest. “The boys have done remarkable without Paul but we know his qualities. He makes a very, very big difference to us. Paul has been working really hard, but you could see he couldn’t play more than 45 minutes,” Solskjaer said after the match.
United defender Luke Shaw admitted they were poor in the first half but Pogba made the difference. “We weren’t good at all,” Luke Shaw told BT Sport. “First half, we were awful. The first 10 to 15 minutes we started well and kept control of the ball but then like a switch we turned off. We were very sloppy, kept giving away balls, bringing pressure on ourselves and I think we were lucky. Second half a bit better. It always helps when you’ve got a world-class player like Paul to come on and make a difference, he did that and it’s brilliant to have him back.”
Milan coach Stefano Pioli was disappointed but said they lost to a ‘very strong team’. “This elimination is a big disappointment,” said coach Stefano Pioli. “We played like a great team but we should have scored a goal in the first half tonight. Manchester are a very strong team that got to the semi-finals of the Europa League last year, a team that beat Manchester City 10 days ago. It’s tough be we have to bounce back immediately in the league,” Pioli said.
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