Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hailed Odion Ighalo after he scored his first goal for the Red Devils in their 5-0 Europa League victory against Club Brugge, as per FourFourTwo.
With Anthony Martial sidelined due to injury, Solskjaer gave the 30-year-old his first start and the experienced striker used the opportunity well to show his talents.
The Nigerian international looked lively and struck a goal in the first half, playing an important role to help United get an easy victory and proceed to the last 16 of the competition.
Ighalo joined Old Trafford on loan in the January transfer window from the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua where he scored 10 league goals in just 17 appearances.
The United manager was gushing about the forward later:
“I’m very happy with the contribution of Odion, doing what he does. He’s a target man, we can play up to him, he’ll hold it, he’s got Juan (Mata) and Bruno (Fernandes) next to him and you’ve got runners then.
“I think as a fellow striker I know how important that first goal is. He’s been close a couple of times, you can see he sniffs goals. He wants to be there where it sometimes hurts. That goal, he’s sharp in his head. That’s a natural striker.”
The Manchester club’s other January signing Fernandes was also sparkling in the match as he grabbed the opener from the penalty spot after Simon Deli handled the ball and consequently got sent off.
The fate of the match never looked in doubt as Scott McTominay and Fred also struck three goals to register an emphatic victory for Solskjaer’s side.
