There was a strange atmosphere as Manchester United beat 5-0 LASK behind closed doors in the Europa League last 16 first leg tonight.

Away goals from Odion Ighalo, Daniel James, Juan Mata, Mason Greenwood and Andreas Pereira sealed a very good night’s work for United and has surely killed the tie already.

Owen Hargreaves and Paul Ince were covering the game as pundits for BT Sport and Hargreaves had his say on United’s performance.

(UEFA – Handout/UEFA via Getty Images )

Hargreaves felt sorry for LASK

Hargreaves said: “We saw it yesterday, it didn’t feel right – it was harsh on LASK. It doesn’t feel right without the fans but credit Man United.

“If you compare the atmosphere against Manchester City to there where there’s no atmosphere, it’s just not right.

“They were clinical, professional. We said get an away goal, they got five. Everybody is improving. Bailly stepped in and played great, McTominay played great, even Pereira when he came on.

 

“He’s a really good striker of the ball and (his goal) moved all over the place.

“United have still got plenty to play for, FA Cup, Europa League. Everyone played well tonight. That ball was great from Fred and Mata isn’t the quickest but he always makes good runs.”

(UEFA – Handout/UEFA via Getty Images )

James finally ends goal drought

James had not found the back of the net since August, when he made a blistering start to his United career with three goals in his first four games.

No-one could doubt his workrate or endeavour during that fallow period and he was probably played too often, at times, owing to a lack of other options.

But Solskjaer’s January business has allowed him to take James out of the team once or twice of late and the Welshman’s last two performances have shown his quality.

He was relentless against Manchester City on Sunday and got the goal his performance deserved early in the second half here, and probably deserved a mention from Hargreaves.

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