Former Manchester United stars Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves were in complete agreement that Jadon Sancho looked far better for Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain than he ever did at Old Trafford.
On Wednesday night, Dortmund beat PSG 1-0 in the first leg of the semi-final at Signal Iduna Park.
While it was striker Niclas Fullkrug who scored the only goal of the tie, it was Sancho who ultimately stole all the headlines in what was a masterclass from him.
The Englishman completed 12 dribbles, won 13 ground duels and also delivered three key passes.
During the 90 minutes he was on the pitch, Sancho was a constant problem for the PSG defenders, who simply couldn’t deal with him.
Ferdinand spoke on TNT Sports (via The Mirror) after the final whistle and questioned why Sancho has been unable to replicate his form for Dortmund at United.
The six-time Premier League winner said, “He’s shaking and baking top players here. He’s putting people on the floor, he’s making people dance. It was a joke what he did today and we haven’t seen this, probably since he was at Dortmund before.”
“He isn’t just a dribbler, he isn’t just somebody who runs and runs past people with pace. He’s a footballer who wants to come in and play one-twos, be part of the game and the tempo of that game. What I saw today more than anything, which I haven’t seen and have been waiting to see, and all Manchester United fans have been waiting to see, I saw cage-football Sancho today. This is the kid that grew up in cages, with that arrogance and that little bit of swagger.”
“I’ve been sitting here saying that it’s there but we haven’t seen it. He’s in a groove. Once someone gets in a groove, we’ve seen it with different sportsmen in different sports, football, especially, when they’re in the groove and the confidence is there, they churn these performances out.”
Ferdinand added, “He will come off this pitch with a high. He will see people going on about him on social media and love it and rightly so. Lap it up.”
The former defender’s sentiments were echoed by Hargreaves who noted that against the reigning Ligue 1 champions, Sancho looked “fitter, sharper and more confident.”
Hargreaves also pointed out that the 24-year-old winger was more explosive in a display that reminded everyone why the Red Devils initially forked out big money to secure his services.
Sancho is currently in the last month of his loan spell at Dortmund and it remains to be seen where his long-term future lies – whether that’s at United or in the Bundesliga, where he’s clearly at his best.
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