Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag explains why he used Wout Weghorst in No.10 role vs Barcelona

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has praised Wout Weghorst’s performance in an unfamiliar number 10 role against Barcelona and has explained his thought process behind the tactical tweak.

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The Red Devils gave an excellent performance at Camp Nou in their Europa League knockout round play-off first-leg tie, securing a 2-2 draw in a pulsating contest.

Weghorst – who only has one goal in nine appearances now – missed a great opportunity to open the scoring in the first half but his positioning caused Barca a number of problems.

The Dutchman was playing just behind Marcus Rashford in a deeper, number 10 role with Bruno Fernandes off the right and Jadon Sancho off the left – both of whom would come inside to support the attack.

Ten Hag felt his setup worked very well, with United rattling a Barca back-line that have been imperious domestically, and wanted to use Weghorst’s deeper position to bring others into the game.

Asked about his decision to play Weghorst as a number 10 – and whether his plan worked – Ten Hag told BT Sport: ‘I think so!

‘But it’s not only about Wout, although he did well in that position and I know he can be [a number 10].

‘But it gives us a lot of variation but also I want to bring Jadon [Sancho] and Bruno [Fernandes] coming into half spaces, getting them on the ball and make runs from deep.

‘With the full-backs joining in, I think we had a lot of variation and we had a lot of opportunities and we should have won this game.’

United went behind to a goal from Marcos Alonso from a corner but rallied within minutes as Rashford fired past Marc-Andre ter Stegen from a very acute angle before a Jules Kounde own goal gave the visitors the lead on the night.

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