Scott McTominay has revealed he made his midfield tussle with Marco Verratti a personal duel during Manchester United's Champions League comeback.
McTominay was pitted against Verratti in the round-of-16 second leg at the Parc des Princes with United 2-0 down from the first leg but they recovered to record an extraordinary 3-3 comeback and progress on the away goals rule.
Midfielder McTominay's selection was mainly enforced by injuries to Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera, as well as the suspension of Paul Pogba, but the Scotland international earned widespread acclaim for his performance against Verratti.
McTominay had started away at Sevilla at the same stage of the competition a year earlier but was up against a more reputable name in the Italian Verratti, a midfielder former United manager Jose Mourinho coveted.
"Whenever you're a holding midfielder or a box-to-box midfielder, like a number eight, you have to nullify these players," McTominay told the United programme. "You have to get up to them and make it a personal match between you and them, make it really: 'It's me versus you. If you want to go toe-to-toe then I can run all night. It's up to you to match that'.
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"But that's the way it has to be for every single game. It can't just be for big games in the Champions League; it has to be for your home games that you should win, your away games that you should win, every single football match that you play.
"It's no different if it's the Champions League or a League Two team in the FA Cup."
"Paris [is] probably the best night I've ever had in my life. I remember speaking to Kieran [McKenna] before the game and he said: 'This is one for you to go and enjoy. This is one for you to go on the pitch, express yourself and enjoy the occasion'. I feel like that message that was passed through to us about enjoying it was so important because it took away the pressure.
"When you go out on the pitch it's about yourself, the team, about how everyone comes together, and on that night we all came together."
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