📣 Solskjaer on facing Milan, Anthony Martial and stopping Chelsea | OneFootball

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Phil Costa·26 February 2021

📣 Solskjaer on facing Milan, Anthony Martial and stopping Chelsea

Article image:📣 Solskjaer on facing Milan, Anthony Martial and stopping Chelsea

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke to the press on Friday ahead of their Premier League clash against Chelsea.

Their Europa League opponents, Anthony Martial and Thomas Tuchel were all on the agenda.


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Here’s what he had to say.


On the Europa League draw …

Article image:📣 Solskjaer on facing Milan, Anthony Martial and stopping Chelsea

“It’s a nice birthday gift, isn’t it? To watch that draw! We do have the tradition of making it hard for ourselves in draws.

“It’s one of the those draws again that you feel could be a Champions League game.”


On facing Milan …

“The tradition and history of AC Milan, it’s a great club that we welcome and it’s a great stadium that we go to there, and we’re looking forward to it.”


On Zlatan Ibrahimović …

Article image:📣 Solskjaer on facing Milan, Anthony Martial and stopping Chelsea

“Zlatan, of course, I’ve been so impressed with how his career has gone.

“He had a career-threatening injury when he was here but came back from that and went to [the] MLS, then came back to Milan and has really lifted them.”


On facing Chelsea …

“Thomas [Tuchel] has come in now and has changed things at Chelsea and we know it is going to be a great challenge for us.”


On Tuchel’s impact …

Article image:📣 Solskjaer on facing Milan, Anthony Martial and stopping Chelsea

“You can see in the results, stats and possession they’ve [Chelsea] had — he’s [Tuchel] done really well. It is never easy coming into a season halfway through and he must be pleased as well, but hopefully we can stop that run. That’s my job now.”


On avoiding injuries …

“I’ve got to say that they [Bruno and Rashford] are very very fit athletes who recover well.

“Normally they play every game for the full 90 minutes, so it was good to get them 45 minutes each against Real Sociedad.”


On Anthony Martial …

Article image:📣 Solskjaer on facing Milan, Anthony Martial and stopping Chelsea

“He is not going to sit down and wait for things to happen.

“He knows he will have to make it happen himself and we will encourage him, we will coach him, and we know he has quality and class.”


On his defensive options …

“Both of them [Bailly and Lindelöf] played really well against Real Sociedad.

“We’ve got Eric, Victor and Harry [Maguire], three very good centre-backs that I can rely on and Axel [Tuanzebe] as well, so I’ve got four to choose from.”


Manchester United are unbeaten in their last eight fixtures.