Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can restore Manchester United to their past glories, according to City boss Pep Guardiola.
Solskjaer guided United to a 1-0 win over Manchester City in Wednesday's Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.
While it was not enough to overturn City's 3-1 lead from the first leg at Old Trafford, it meant Solskjaer became the first manager to beat Guardiola's team twice at the Etihad, with the Norwegian having masterminded a 2-1 victory there in the Premier League last month.
Guardiola admitted afterwards that he admires United's style of play, and thinks the players are starting to understand what their manager wants from them.
"I like the way they play a lot,” Guardiola told reporters after City's 3-2 aggregate victory.
“The quality of players up front is incredible. I said before when we lost at home, I have the feeling they are trying to do what the manager wants. I think it works.
"Maybe they are not consistent. Maybe at home they struggle against the teams who defend deep.
“I think in time they will come back to what United was for many, many years."
Guardiola also praised United's midfield pair of Fred and Nemanja Matic, the latter of whom scored the only goal of the game but was sent off later in the game for two bookable offences.
“[Nemanja] Matic and Fred are incredible players,” Guardiola added. “Matic was outstanding.”
And the City boss called on his own team to be more clinical after their failure to score early in the game led to a tense second half.
“We were fantastic, we concede the goal from the only time they shot," said Guardiola.
“We were solid and we create enough chances to score a lot of goals.
“The same at Old Trafford, we created even more chances [tonight] but didn’t convert; we have to learn from that to be more clinical.
“Of course, we have to take the chances we have, the clear chances.”
United will host City in the Premier League at Old Trafford on March 8.
