Former Manchester United ace Paul Ince has blasted manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for wasting striker Romelu Lukaku against Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League matchup between the two sides. The Manchester United attackers looked absolutely out of sorts against the Blaugrana as they were not able to keep a single shot on target throughout the match. The visitors won the match by 1-0 owing to the own goal scored by Luke Shaw as Luis Suarez’s misdirected header went into the net off him early in the match.
Speaking to Paddy Power, Ince said, “The big players didn’t even turn up for United last night. You’ve got to have a go at Barcelona, what are you scared for? They gave them far too much respect.”
He added, “On the night, you’re looking at the so-called big players like Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku to make something happen. You look at those to get the team going – and it didn’t materialise. Another off day for Pogba, which I didn’t expect considering how he’s been playing and Lukaku once again looked incapable of scoring a goal. He spent most of his time out on the wing, he just needs to play between the two goal posts. What use is Lukaku out on the wing?”
The former Red Devil concluded, “It was disappointing. They never had a go at Barcelona or tried to, in such a massive game where the fans are up for it. It’s a sad sight that at Old Trafford, in the Champions League, United aren’t having a shot on target. That Barcelona team were probably expecting a different performance from United. ‘They’d have been expecting that resurgent Ole side who come at you from the off, that get in your faces, but that didn’t materialise.”
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