Eric Bailly soars on swift return to Manchester United defence; ready for extended run in the team
- Bailly was only told on Sunday that he was in line for a quick return to the United starting line-up after injury
- Ivorian is pivotal to United’s impressive win over Chelsea
Manchester United’s Ivorian defender Eric Bailly hadn’t played a game of football since July or a competitive game since last April when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told him on Sunday that he’d be starting away to Chelsea on Monday night. Victor Lindelof, one of the usual central defenders, was ill and the Ivorian was considered ready.
“It’s not easy when you don’t play for so long,” Bailly said after the match as he walked from the dressing room to the team coach. “But it only gets easier by playing games. I have been telling the manager that I want to play. I’ve been working hard and a bad, long, injury. I’ve been ready to play for a week and told the manager that. I took a few minutes to settle when the game started. I was nervous if I’m honest after so long away because it was almost a year when I was injured against Chelsea, but then things went OK. I felt the support from my teammates and my manager which is important.”
“Absolutely fantastic, heart of a lion,” added his manager. “His block from [Mateo] Kovacic is out of this world defending. Eric is a top player. It was his first game since we played against Chelsea in April. He is a top defender. He’s fast, he’s brave like a lion and it’s great to find him.
“We didn’t play particularly well with the ball, we were sometimes slow, but defensively, it was very good. Eric Bailly was remarkable for his first recovery match.”