Solskjaer jokes he would not be alive the next time Fred scored

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joked he thought he would not be alive the next time Fred scored for Manchester United.

Fred tripled his United tally in the 5-0 Europa League round-of-32 second leg thrashing of Cluib Brugge, scoring his first goal since September 2018 before hitting a second late on to complete the rout.

The 26-year-old had not managed a goal or an assist all season, yet laid on the ball for Scott McTominay to score in the first-half in only United's second five-goal haul at Old Trafford since Boxing Day in 2011.

"I'm happy for everyone," Solskjaer said. "There are loads of players out there, having improved. Scotty's back, he's improved. But Fred, I wasn't sure if I was ever gonna be alive the next time he scored a goal, because he's had so many attempts!

"One with his right and one with his left. It's been an ongoing joke between us, of course. But he got that goal, very pleased for him."

United were 3-0 up and 4-1 ahead on aggregate at half-time following the sending off of Simon Deli in the 22nd minute for an obvious denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Bruno Fernandes scored his second in as many matches and Odion Ighalo crowned his full United debut with a goal on a perfect night for United ahead of the last 16 draw at midday on Friday.

"Very happy tonight," Solskjaer added. "Obviously, we're in a moment now that we rotate a bit, players are getting games. But when you score goals and you play like this, you're going to get more confidence.

"Brilliant start to the game, they had the right intent, created loads of chances and when [Brugge] get down to 10 men the game was more or less over."

"It's difficult to say," Solskjaer replied when asked if the first-half was the best of the season. "We created a few decent chances against City away as well, to be fair.

"When we got 1-0 and they had a man sent off it helps, but you're still playing against players in and around the box, our imagination there was good."