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Football London
Football London
Sport
David Byrom

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer aims cheeky dig at Jose Mourinho and Tottenham after Man United victory

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could not resist a cheeky reference to Jose Mourinho after Manchester United had the woodwork to thank in their dramatic victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

United were completely outplayed for large periods by Brighton, who hit the woodwork five times in the match.

Yet, after leading 2-1 but conceding an equaliser in added time, United secured victory in the most dramatic circumstances with with Bruno Fernandes' 100th-minute penalty.

Things could have been so different had Brighton not hit the woodwork so much and Solskjaer admitted as much when speaking to BT Sport.

The United boss also referenced Mourinho's incident from earlier this week, when the Tottenham Hotspur boss revealed he had got the goalposts changed before his side's Europa League tie with Shkendija.

Solskjaer said: "First of all you have to be happy Jose isn't here to measure the goalposts - it might have been a smaller goal!

"They created too much for my liking but they're a difficult team to play against.

"We tried to press, they've got really good ball-players at the back who play really well so we didn't really get there.

"You can see we don't really have the legs and sharpness still, but we'll get there."

Mourino had noticed that the goalposts at Shkendija's ground were too short pre-match and had got UEFA to change the goals.

"Before the game was a funny situation because my goalkeepers told me that the goal was small," Mourinho said.

"I went by myself and of course the goal was small. The goalkeepers, they spend hours and hours and hours in the goal so they know when the goal is not the right dimension.

"I am not a goalkeeper but I know football since I was a kid and I know when I stand there and I spread my arms and I know the distance, so I felt immediately that something was going wrong.

"We got the UEFA delegate to confirm and yes it was 5cm smaller, which of course we demanded for the goals to be replaced for goals of the right dimension."

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