Owen Hargreaves believes Jadon Sancho outshone some of the world’s best players like Mbappe in Dortmund’s 1-0 victory over PSG in the Champions League semi-finals first leg, which took place in the early morning of May 2.
Niclas Fullkrug’s impressive goal in the first half gave Dortmund an advantage ahead of the second leg, but Sancho was the most prominent star on the field. According to statistics from Sofascore, the English winger completed 12 successful dribbles in 90 minutes on the field, more than any player in C1 this season and more than anyone in this tournament since Lionel Messi in 2008.
Assessing Sancho’s brilliant performance, former MU star Owen Hargreaves said on TNT Sports: “I could tell from the first few touches that he was a confident player and his body language was genuine.” amazing. He has a bit of arrogance, which makes for a refined and good player. At MU, we don’t see many of these moments, whether it’s confidence or his lack of fitness. But today, he answered a lot of questions.
You can criticize Sancho for being inconsistent but today he outperformed every player on the pitch and some world-class players, the best players out there. In the C1 semi-finals, the pressure is very heavy no matter which team you are playing for. He deserves praise, he performed better than the best player in the world today, Kylian Mbappe, super impressive.”
Sancho played extremely well against PSG. Photo: X
Meanwhile, another former MU star, Rio Ferdinand, also praised Sancho, saying: “He has shaken and turned some top players into clowns. He made everyone dance for joy. Today’s performance was truly outstanding. We probably haven’t seen this since he was at Dortmund.
He is not only a good dribbler but also runs at full speed on the field. Arrogance is a plus point, what I saw today and all MU fans are probably thinking, where did this performance come from?. Today I watched football and fell in love with Sancho. He is progressing well. Once he gets into shape and regains confidence, he will show top football.”
Sancho left MU and returned to Dortmund on loan until the end of this season after a conflict with coach Erik Ten Hag. When asked about staying with the black and yellow team or returning to the Red Devils, Sancho admitted: ” I don’t know, right now I’m just focusing on what’s going on.”
Dortmund will travel to Paris a week from now and look to protect their one-goal lead as they aim to reach the Champions League final for the first time since 2013.