Ole Gunnar Solskjaer watched Manchester United’s win over Villarreal in the Champions League this week and was lifted by fans who chanted his name during the match.
The Red devils took the decision to sack Solskjaer on Sunday after a run of five defeats out of their last seven Premier League games.
Solskjaer issued an apology to United’s travelling fans in what turned out to be his final match in charge as his team were well beaten 4-1 by Watford on Saturday.
The Norwegian coach was booed by United’s supporters at Vicarage Road but his name was being sung by fans who made the trip to Spain for their UEFA Champions League tie with Villarreal on Tuesday.
According to Andy Mitten who was speaking on The Athletic’s ‘Talk of the Devils’ podcast, Solskjaer watched the game from his home and was ‘absolutely buzzing’ by the fact that fans continued to sing their ‘You are my Solskjaer’ chant in his honour even after his exit.
Michael Carrick has been placed in temporary charge after Solskjaer’s exit but they are now expected to appoint Ralf Rangnick as their interim head coach for the rest of the season.
Speaking after the 2-0 victory over Villarreal, Carrick dedicated the result to Solskjaer and defended his decision to agree to stay on at Old Trafford after the Norwegian’s exit.
‘It’s not an important result for me personally. It’s an important one for the players and the club,’ Carrick said. ‘It’s an important result for the players, tonight is not about me by any stretch.
‘It’s obviously been an emotional few days. The first person I spoke to after Ed [Woodward] asked me to do this role was Ole, to almost see what he thought about it because I felt that was the right thing to do.
‘I have a responsibility to be here managing the team and I take great pride in that.
‘It wasn’t about me tonight though. It was about getting through [the group]. It was a massive game, when you get to this stage in the Champions League it can swing so easily both ways, so it was vital we came here and got the right result and we managed to do that so I’m delighted.’
