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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Matthew Cooper

Paul Pogba lifts lid on Man Utd half-time chat that led to transformed display

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has revealed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's half-time team talk left the squad "motivated to score as many goals as possible" against Roma.

United were 2-1 down at half-time in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final clash, with Lorenzo Pellegrini and Edin Dzeko scoring for the visitors after Bruno Fernandes had netted the opener.

However, the Red Devils turned things around in dramatic fashion in the second half, scoring five goals to win the game 6-2.

Pogba was one of the goalscorers and, speaking to BT Sport after the game, he explained that the message at half-time was to keep things "simple".

Paul Pogba is interviewed after Manchester United's 6-2 win over Roma in their Europa League semi-final first leg match (Jan Kruger - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

"The result is positive but it's not finished," he said. There is one more leg to go through. We're going to have to stay focused and play with the same mentality."

"In the first half we made two mistakes and conceded two goals. We were a bit all over the place after the second goal. At half-time we said let's do the right things, let's do simple things. The manager spoke. We were all motivated to score as many goals as possible."

Former United midfielder Paul Scholes praised Pogba after the game, claiming he is now playing in the "perfect" position.

Pogba scored United's fifth goal of the game (Getty Images)

"I thought Pogba was outstanding tonight," Scholes told BT Sport. "From that position it's a position where you can create, score goals.

"This position is perfect when you want to be a bit of a maverick. Have a free role in your team, you can do it from that side. The right-back will be tasked with dealing with him but once he steps inside the right-back can't go with him.

"Some of the quality he shows was brilliant. He was overdue a goal and let's hope he can go on a run now."

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