'Henrik will prove a great signing for us, he was terrific'
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Your support makes all the difference.There can be no more contrasting personalities in the history of Manchester United strikers than Eric Cantona and Henrik Larsson but Sir Alex Ferguson was compelled to compare his Swedish debutant with the former enfant terrible last night after his goalscoring contribution against Aston Villa.
Though United were indebted to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and a horrendous injury-time mistake from the on-loan goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly for their place in today's FA Cup fourth-round draw, the Norwegian striking in stoppage time after Milan Baros had appeared to secure a replay for Martin O'Neill's side, Larsson instantly proved the merits of his 10-week loan move from Helsingborgs with a display brimming with intelligence and United's opening goal on a profligate afternoon.
"Henrik will continue to score important goals for us," a relieved Ferguson insisted. "There are goalscorers and then there are goalscorers who always manage to score the important goals throughout their career. Cantona was like that, Solskjaer has been doing that for a long time, and Henrik has always done it. He will prove a great signing for us over the next few months."
Larsson lasted 78 minutes before being replaced by the matchwinner, and delivered an impressive display despite not playing in a competitive game for a month. Ferguson said: "We had to find out about his fitness. Playing at home in this game was a great chance to do that, and I am pleased with him. He's been looking terrific in training and he could have scored three or four goals. His movement, and his judgement of when to run and when not to run, was terrific."
Larsson's former manager at Celtic, and now the man responsible for uplifting Villa's season after a run of 11 games without a win and a deflating late defeat at Old Trafford, Martin O'Neill, added: "People always used to ask me in Scotland if Henrik would score as many goals in England. My answer was always the same, he could score in any league he chooses, and he has showed that already."
The Villa manager would not be drawn on the referee Martin Atkinson's failure to spot Wayne Rooney kicking out at two opposition players during the game: "I'm staying out of it. What's the point?" he said, although he did reveal his goalkeeper's despair at the stoppage-time lapse that enabled Solskjaer's strike to slip through his grasp and over the line.
"I am grateful to Gabor coming down from Crystal Palace as we were down on numbers," said O'Neill, who has lost both Thomas Sorensen and Stuart Taylor to knee injuries. "He is downcast but that is the way it goes." He added: "United are always capable of scoring. We played our best football when we went behind and Milan took his goal splendidly."
Ferguson, who was without Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic as a result of a virus, admitted: "I think we deserved to win the game because we made a host of chances, but you have to feel a bit for Villa."
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