classy
Rio Ferdinand has praised Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for his decision to start Axel Tuanzebe against Paris Saint-Germain following his ten-month lay off with injury.
In the absence of Harry Maguire and Eric Bailly, the 22-year-old was brought into the starting XI and expertly nullified the threat posed by Neymar and Kylian Mbappe as the Red Devils secured a superb 2-1 victory in Paris.
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And when asked if Tuanzebe has put himself in a good position for a prolonged run in the team, Ferdinand told BT Sport: "Yes. Ole has just said it’s two of the best two strikers in the world, he snuffed out danger many a time today.
"You have to reward performances like that. He’s had a hard time with injuries – first game in 10 months – to come in and play like that, from in out of the cold, you deserve to be rewarded. "But Ole is the man to make that decision."
The former United centre-back continued: "This is where Man United have struggled in the last six to 12 months, in them areas chasing players down the channels, they can’t stay with them and then obviously that opens up the back four or back three. But he was smelling danger."
Fellow pundit and Ferdinand's former United teammate Owen Hargreaves agreed with Rio, saying Tuanzebe will be difficult to dislodge from the team in the coming weeks.
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"Good luck getting this guy out of the team," said Hargreaves.
"This guy… I love him. He’s a good athlete, he makes good decisions, physically he’s got a good presence, he wasn’t fazed by Mbappe or Neymar. I think he grew into the occasion.
"We saw a couple of years ago Scott McTominay came here and put in a top performance. This young man… look, he’s not getting out of the side."