Carrick 'delighted' to take charge of Man Utd in the Champions League
Cameron Smith
- 23 Nov 2021 14:58 CST
- 4 min read
Michael Carrick has admitted that he was "delighted" with his Manchester United managerial debut.
His side were 2-0 winners over Villarreal in the Champions League, with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, his first for the club, almost securing qualification to the knockout stage.
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Man Utd are currently top of Group F, and know that a point will seal their place in the next round.
Carrick, who took charge after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's sacking, spoke to BT Sport after the game, and revealed his thoughts on his first game as interim manager.
What has Carrick said?
In his post-match interview, Carrick said: "We came here to win the game, I said we came here to win the game. I believed we would, we were ready for it tonight, and that proved to be the case.
""It wasn't an easy game, it was a tough game, they're a good team. For those who don't watch them that much, they're a good team, they make you work in possession, they're a good team.
"I thought the boys had to dig in at times, they showed a little bit of everything, I was delighted with the way it ended up."
He continued: "Let's be honest, we couldn't hope to come out here and play pretty football from the word go when you've suffered results wise and you're not in a great vein of form individually and as a team it's not it's not easy to just come out and let everything click.
"In some ways it was the best way to win as a team, we had to show some character, dig in and fight. It went our way at times, didn't go our way at times, it seemed like the game was going away from us at times, we got back together again and the subs made a massive impact towards the end.
"It had a little bit of everything and that's all I can ask for, the players gave everything."
Carrick then picked out three players who stood out for him. "Fred's done fantastic, he's done what Fred does, he's done fantastic," Carrick said.
"Won the ball back, which we wanted to, we looked for that and yeah Ronaldo when he gets that chance, puts it away. That's another to his list.
"To finish it off with Jadon was brilliant, I know how much he loves the ball at his feet, making stuff happen, that's where he's the happiest, but I thought he put a real defensive effort in as well, it was a big night for him."
The former Man Utd midfielder isn't expected to be in charge for much longer, but either way, he said he relished the opportunity. "I've enjoyed it, yeah, I've really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed the whole thing.
"I've said to the guys, it's not been an easy couple of days for everyone at the club, I can enjoy it so much but still, that result feels like it's for Ole, I can't get away from that.
"We had a job to do without dwelling on it, things needed to be taken care of, and thankfully it all went to plan in the end."
Man Utd continue their search for a new manager, with Mauricio Pochettino said to be high on their want list, while Ernesto Valverde has reportedly been in talks with the club over an interim role until the end of the season.
