Man Utd’s Van de Beek revels in deeper role in Pogba’s absence

REUTERS: Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek, who got off to an unusual start in Manchester United’s 4-1 Champions League win over Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday, was pleased with his performance after impressing in a further role. deep in the absence of Paul Pogba.

Van de Beek, signed from Ajax Amsterdam for 35 million pounds ($ 46 million) in September, was deployed at the base of United’s midfield behind Bruno Fernandes instead of advancing further to 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 number 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 to the away game, 4-1 at home, you can be happy. The first half was very good, especially the first 30 minutes, we played very well, we scored very good goals.

“In the second half we lost too many balls, we gave them a few chances, but in the last five minutes we got back in control of the game and scored 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 is swollen,” Solskjaer said. “We trained yesterday, but he wasn’t feeling well. This morning it was just a confirmation that he couldn’t play.”

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(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Edited by Peter Rutherford)