Ole Gunnar Solskjaer blames Europa League ball for Manchester United’s difficult night in Bruges

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer partly blamed the Europa League’s official ball for Manchester United’s difficult draw against Club Brugge on Thursday night.

Anthony Martial’s away goal, a first-half equaliser, means United will be well-fancied to progress past Brugge and reach the last-16 after next week’s second leg at Old Trafford.

But Solskjaer admitted his players were “a bit sloppy” for much of the 1-1 stalemate, with Emmanuel Dennis initially putting the hosts ahead.

Heavy downpours before and during the game made the surface at the Jan Breydel Stadion treacherous and Solskjaer also felt the match ball did not help matters.

“I don’t think it was one of the best games anyone’s seen,” the Norwegian said. “It was a difficult game against a well-organised team in difficult conditions. 

“I think you can ask any of the players, that ball doesn’t help anyone play football,” he added. It’s just different and difficult to play with. You can get one and try!

“It’s the same for the two teams, of course. But the conditions weren’t nice, the wind and the rain.”

Solskjaer will nevertheless be confident of a positive result in next Thursday’s return leg and progressing to the next round.

“We got an away goal, we got a draw,” he said. “We go home next week so hopefully we can finish the job.” 

Philippe Clement, the Brugge manager, disagreed with Solskjaer’s assessment of the match balls, which are manufactured by the Japanese sports equipment brand Molten.

“We get the balls from Uefa, so it’s not our ball,” Clement said. “In the Europa League games it’s the same balls so I don’t see a problem with that.”