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Wanted to ‘kiss’ Depay after Man United’s win: Coach Van Gaal
Manchester: English club Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal said he wanted to kiss Memphis Depay after seeing him score a brace in a 3-1 Champions League play-off win against Belgian side Club Brugge.
The Dutchman scored two terrific goals on Tuesday night at home to give the hosts a good cushion to take into next week’s second leg in Belgium. And Van Gaal was overjoyed to see his compatriot score his first and second goals in only his third appearance for his new club.
“I want to kiss him tonight. I’m very happy for him because a player needs that,” Van Gaal was quoted as saying by skysports.com after the match on Tuesday.
Midfielder Michael Carrick’s early own goal had initially put the away side in front but Depay struck quickly to turn the game on its head with two excellent efforts.
Midfielder Marouane Fellaini then added a third in injury time to leave the side from his home country with a bigger deficit to make up.
Depay was ecstatic at having opened his account for Man United.
“Hopefully he shall continue to score. I have confidence in him. He showed what he can do tonight. He scored two goals and got the assist for the other,” he said.
The 21-year-old said: “I’m happy that I scored – and of course I’m happy that we won, but I must admit I’m a bit disappointed because I could have scored the last two chances and got a hat-trick.”
The manager was happy to hear Memphis was not entirely content and said, “When you score two goals and the assist also, normally in the world you are the hero.
Van Gaal is confident of seeing United into the group phase after the return leg and praised star striker Wayne Rooney’s contribution after recent criticism of his performances.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.