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Axel Tuanzebe gives sparkling performance in Paris to provide Man United with a welcome tonic at the back

Axel Tuanzebe (left) proves more than a match for Kylian Mbappe (right) and Neymar - SHUTTERSTOCK
Axel Tuanzebe (left) proves more than a match for Kylian Mbappe (right) and Neymar - SHUTTERSTOCK

It was the sort of unenviable position defenders have nightmares about: Kylian Mbappe on your outside charging into the penalty area. If you are quick enough to catch him, and there are not many in that category, there is the knowledge that the slightest touch could bring him down. Fail to get close and you are at the mercy of one of the most formidable strikers in world football.

When Axel Tuanzebe got the nod from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that he was starting against Paris Saint-Germain, it must have occurred to the Manchester United defender that there might be a moment in the game when he found himself in such a sticky spot. In the 34th minute, that moment arrived.

For an experienced, match-fit defender, it would have been a real challenge. For an inexperienced centre-half playing in his first competitive game for 10 months in a makeshift back three, it was daunting in the extreme, but Tuanzebe did not panic.

He kept pace with Mbappe while never allowing his concentration to wander, his eyes fixed on the problem in hand and then, when the opportunity presented itself, he got his shoulder in and his foot across and retrieved the ball cleanly. It was a superb piece of defending, a snapshot of his excellent night’s work, and one from which you could see the 22 year-old draw confidence.

Axel Tuanzebe takes the ball off Kylian Mbappe - AFP
Axel Tuanzebe takes the ball off Kylian Mbappe - AFP

With Harry Maguire injured, Eric Bailly facing a month on the sidelines, and neither Marcos Rojo nor Phil Jones in United’s Champions League squad, Tuanzebe - last seen in a United shirt against Colchester in the League Cup last December - was thrown in at the deep end and did not so much swim as float serenely.

At a time when the manager is facing a crisis at centre-half, his performance must have been a most welcome tonic.

“Axel did fantastic,” Solskjaer said. “He’s been out for 10 months so to put in a performance like this against Neymar and Mbappe almost surprised us as well. We know he’s a good player but to do it on a night like this is fantastic and testament to his qualities. You might see this system again, of course.”

And why not. There were fears going into this that a makeshift United, in their curious black and white zig-zag kit, might be picked off by last season’s beaten Champions League finalists like lions hunting zebra, but it was easy to forget that PSG were also fielding a patched-up defence and, of the two, United’s looked by far the more organised and robust. Mbappe and Neymar, in the main, were kept quiet, which is more than you could say for PSG’s attempt to muzzle Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.

James Ducker's Man Utd briefing
James Ducker's Man Utd briefing

Whether Victor Lindelof felt more leadership was necessary with Maguire missing, or whether the Swede felt more at home in a back three flanked by players with pace in Tuanzebe and Luke Shaw, this was his best performance in a United shirt in memory. He organised, cajoled and read the danger superbly.

It helped that Fred and Scott McTominay, reprising their roles from that dramatic win at the Parc des Princes in March last year, screened the back line so well, but it was hard to believe, watching this, that United’s defence had conceded 12 goals in four Premier League games. Just as it was hard to believe Tuanzebe had been out for so long.