Disappointing But There Were Positives Too, Says Solskjaer After Manchester United's Youngest European Side Loses To Astana

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has insisted that although Manchester United's loss to Astana in the Europa League was disappointing, there were positive too.

Man Utd fielded their youngest-ever European side on Thursday, who went on to lose 2-1 at the Astana Arena Stadium in Kazakhstan.

The former champions' stand-in-skipper, Jesse Lingard, opened the scoring with a low finish at the 10th minute from kickoff before Man Utd went into the half-time break with a lead.

Astana, who are already eliminated, fought back surprising Man Utd in their Group L fixture as Dmitri Shomko's struck at the 55th minute before an own goal from Man Utd debutant Di'Shon Bernard handed a superb victory to the hosts.

Reacting to his side's loss to Astana in the post-match interview, Solskjaer said," Definitely (there are positives). Of course, we're disappointed with the end result but I thought we started the game fantastically, the boys took control of the game, scored a fantastic goal. The response after they scored two was also good. Of course, disappointed with that 10-minute spell, you could feel pressure was coming. We couldn't get on the ball as we did. But some fantastic performances by the three young lads who made their debuts, all were excellent."

Solskjaer also insisted that the young players who impressed on Thursday against Astana would certainly benefit from going out on loan.

"I think some of these (young players I brought to Kazakhstan) might benefit from going out on loan because they need men's football and today they got the taste of it, some of them."

"But some are also knocking on the door for us. You could see the way we dominated the midfield. I thought Dylan (Levitt) and Jimmy [James Garner] playing together - it's nice to see midfielders dominating the game. Di'Shon was so composed. Ethan (Laird), especially the first half, was marauding down the right-hand side, so some of these have done themselves good favor," the 46-year-old Norwegian added.