Ole Gunnar Solskaer has said that Manchester United will not lay back and accept defeat when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday. United trail PSG 2-0 on aggregate and overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit against Olympiakos in 2014, but the return leg was at Old Trafford. Since United reached the Champions League final at Wembley in 2011, the Olympiakos comeback is the only knockout tie they have won in the competition.
Solskjaer was not in the United squad for either leg of their semi-final revival against Juventus in 1999 but played in the three games sandwiched between the European ties. Despite playing no part in Manchester or Turin, the memory of United winning their first game on Italian soil from 2-0 down is still vivid for the Norwegian.
“Yeah, I have to say that we felt invincible,” Solskjaer said of United’s Treble run-in. “We felt that every game we were in with a chance to win and the way we won it against Arsenal in that FA Cup semi-final, they missed a penalty and we scored the winner. After that, it’s just..
“And the belief is here now, I have to say. They (PSG) are confident going into the game knowing that we are 2-0 down. We know it is going to be difficult, we played them here and they are a good team, and we have got loads of injuries, there are a few boys here that will want to be part of it.
“It was 1-1 at home (against Juve in ’99) and they scored two to go 2-0 up in the first 10 minutes and suddenly you think you are out. But as soon as we get that one goal away from home we were in the ascendant. And then when we got to 2-2, suddenly we were through and they had to panic.
“So that’s it for us. We have to get goals in that game. If we get an early one, then suddenly we are in with a shout. Certainly, for our players, they know what we are capable of and we have spoken about it. They know that they are part of a special club that can do something like this. We are not going to go there and lay down. We are going to give it a go. We have got to go for it.
“We have a mountain to climb. We have quality players. Let’s see how many we have got it though. That maybe is the biggest thing.”