Chris Smalling showed shades of Nemanja Vidic as Manchester United beat PSG in Paris.
Manchester United enjoyed a famous Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday with Chris Smalling an absolute stalwart at the heart of the defence, which admittedly isn’t something you can say very often.
Sure, there was a moment when Mbappe nutmegged Smalling with a backheel to send Angel Di Maria through to score – which was disallowed for offside – but otherwise it was truly the Red Devils defender’s night.
Alongside Victor Lindelöf, the Englishman had Mbappe in his pocket and this was truly exemplified in the 81st minute as the striker ran through on goal. Rounding David de Gea, he stumbled and allowed a small window for Smalling to get back in, which he did with aplomb thanks to a well-timed challenge.
Not stopping there, the centre-back bounced off the turf to cover Juan Bernat’s rebound, which narrowly missed him and struck the post.
#MBappe so close, denied by Smalling #PSGMAN pic.twitter.com/iBvZpH3JWd
— 🇲🇦Jason™ྈ 🇲🇦Proud🇲🇦🇨🇦 (@jasonmaccarey) March 6, 2019
United went on to score the winner ten minutes later and qualify for the quarter-finals on away goals. Marcus Rashford did the business from the spot after a VAR-assisted penalty was awarded for Presnel Kimpembe’s handball.
Romelu Lukaku had notched twice in the first half either side of Bernat’s leveller in a dramatic night of European football, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side will go again in the last-eight alongside Porto, Spurs and Ajax with the draw set for Friday, 15 March.
