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LONDON: Off to a rare start in Manchester United’s 4-1 Champions League win over Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday, Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek was pleased with his performance after impressing in a deeper role in absence of Paul Pogba.
Van de Beek, signed from Ajax Amsterdam for £ 35m in September, was deployed at the base of United’s midfield behind Bruno Fernandes instead of being further ahead at No. 10.
Despite the change in position, the 23-year-old looked comfortable throughout 90 minutes as United secured victory to keep them on track to advance to the knockout stage.
“It was really good. Some games I play No. 10, sometimes the coach needs me in the control position, that’s fine for me. Sometimes at Ajax I also played in that position, so it’s fine,” said Van de Beek to MUTV.
“I think it’s a good reaction from the away game, 4-1 at home, you can be happy. The first half was very good, especially the first 30 minutes, we played football very well, we scored very good goals.
“In the second half we lost too many balls, we gave them some chances, but the last five minutes we get back to control the game and we make a nice (fourth) goal.”
French midfielder Pogba was not on the call and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed he was out due to injury.
“His ankle has swelled up,” Solskjaer said. “We trained yesterday, but it didn’t feel right. This morning it was just the confirmation that he couldn’t play. “
