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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s foul-mouthed reaction to Harry Maguire incident in Man United’s win over Burnley

by Matt Gault

His furious reaction was picked up by a reporter who was sat near the dugout at Turf Moor.

Manchester United moved to the top of the Premier League table for the first time in more than three years on Tuesday night with a 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor.

Paul Pogba scored the all-important goal, with the Frenchman firing home a deflected volley in the 71st-minute to clinch three vital points for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

Solskjaer

It was a game full of controversy, however, with VAR once again taking centre stage. The major flashpoint came on the half-hour mark when Luke Shaw challenged Burnley winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson near the United penalty area.

The Burnley players were incensed by referee Kevin Friend’s decision to wave play on with the move culminating in Robbie Brady taking down United striker Edinson Cavani as the Uruguayan bore down on goal.

After a lengthy VAR review, Friend showed Shaw a yellow card and awarded Burnley a free-kick, meaning Brady escaped a possible red card for his last-man challenge on Cavani.

Just a few minutes later, Harry Maguire saw his headed goal disallowed for a foul on Erik Pieters. Replays showed that Maguire was perhaps unfortunate to have been penalised, and that was certainly Solskjaer’s view on the incident.

Solskjaer reacts furiously

After Maguire was interrupted mid-celebration, Solskjaer called the decision “a load of fucking nonsense” as the Norwegian raged on the touchline.

Solskjaer’s foul-mouthed reaction was picked up by Laurie Whitwell, The Athletic’s Manchester United reporter.

After the game, with United having wrapped up the win, Solskjaer offered a more measured assessment for the Manchester United website.

“You had to be calm, and not be too emotionally attached because you can argue every single decision,” he said.

“And the goal that Harry scored was perfectly good, it should never have been disallowed of course but there’s nothing we can do about it when he’s made up his mind.

“At half-time, it was very important for us that we settled our grievances. I know the emotions were running high and the players disagreed with some of the decisions that were made out there, so it was our job to calm them down and focus on the things we can control and we did that.

“We knew that we weren’t going to get anything for free, we were going to have to earn it and we did, we played really well in the second half. You expect the onslaught in the last few minutes, but we were both lucky and good. We held out.”

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