Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has singled out midfielder Scott McTominay for his superb performance in the Europa League final defeat against Villarreal.
Speaking after the game, as quoted by the Metro, the Red Devils boss said he felt McTominay was the best player on the pitch in this big game, even though the Scotland international could not ultimately do enough to help the team bring the trophy home.
Villarreal beat Man Utd on penalties in Gdansk, ensuring that Solskjaer’s side will finish the season trophyless once again, in what ultimately has to go down as a pretty disappointing campaign.
United were only in the Europa League due to being dumped out of the Champions League early on, and they also failed to really put together much of a Premier League title challenge, despite finishing in second place.
McTominay has, however, been a bright spark in this United side with a big improvement in his form this season, and Solskjaer was full of praise for the midfielder after last night’s game.
“I thought Scott McTominay was absolutely outstanding out there. He was, for me, the best player on the pitch,” the Norwegian tactician said.
Overall, however, Solskjaer had to admit this would not go down as a successful season.
“No, it’s not a successful season of course,” he said.
“And that’s the small margins in football. Sometimes one kick can define a season as a good one or as a successful one and one kick says it’s not.
“Improvement, yeah, second in the league which nobody expected after the lack of pre-season we had but the boys have been really good.
“They just came up short tonight unfortunately and that’s on penalties and we could have been sat here saying it was a successful season after the same game.
“Trophies matter and that’s what matters at this club so “no” is your short answer.”