£25 million-signing Memphis Depay announced himself to Old Trafford with two stylish goals as United came from behind to beat Club Brugge 3-1 in the Champions League play-off first leg. PHOTO: AFP
United went behind to an eighth-minute Michael Carrick own goal in Tuesday’s first leg at Old Trafford, but Depay scored two superb goals before teeing up substitute Marouane Fellaini for an injury-time header that put van Gaal’s side firmly in control.
A 2-1 win would have given the Belgian side real hope of turning the tie around in Bruges next Wednesday and after seeing Depay set Fellaini up for the crucial third goal, Van Gaal declared: “I want to kiss him tonight.”
The line, however, was part of an answer in which van Gaal explained his reluctance to single out individual players for praise and the United manager said that Depay’s true value to the squad could be seen in the example he set for his younger teammates.
The goals were Depay’s first since his £25 million switch from PSV Eindhoven, but van Gaal was heartened that when interviewed after the game, the 21-year-old winger had rued spurning a chance to complete his hat-trick by lifting a shot over the bar.
“He’s never satisfied. I like that,” said van Gaal, who guided Ajax to the Champions League in 1995, who is bidding to lead United into the group phase after their first season out of the competition in 19 years. “You have to know what you are doing and also what you can do and then your desire to improve is higher. And that’s Memphis.”
Carrick shinned a free-kick from Victor Vazquez into his own net but provided the pass that led to Depay’s first five minutes later, the Dutchman flicking the ball over an opponent’s head before drilling home.
Depay put United ahead two minutes before the interval, sweeping a glorious shot inside the right-hand post from the left-hand corner of the penalty box, before teeing up Fellaini’s close-range header in stoppage time.
Beaten coach Michel Preud’homme conceded that Fellaini’s late goal was “very bad for the confidence” and struck a fatalistic tone when asked about Club Brugge’s chances in the return leg.
“The message is we learnt a lot last season with all our European games,” he said. “Today we went a step higher. Let us learn. Maybe next season it’ll happen much more that we face such teams.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2015.
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