Manchester United's Axel Tuanzebe 'chuffed' after making full debut and taking on Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez
The 19-year-old was handed his first full debut by Mourinho in the 2-0 defeat at the Emirates and was charged with keeping tabs on the Chilean for the entirety of the match
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United's Axel Tuanzebe has said he was "chuffed" to have made his first full senior debut for the club against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon and relished the "opportunity" to take on Alexis Sanchez.
Although United succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates, the 19-year-old thrived in his role at right-back and held his own against the Chilean.
Speaking to MUTV after the game, the youngster revealed that manager Jose Mourinho had entrusted him with the task of keeping tabs on the forward all game long.
And although Tuanzebe expressed his disappointment with the result, he admitted that he was “chuffed” to have been handed the opportunity to start for United as well as the responsibility of dealing with Sanchez.
“It’s all thanks to the manager because he gave me the opportunity,” he said. “We didn’t get the win, which is a disappointment, but I’m chuffed personally.
“At first, you see all the fans and you think ‘flipping heck’ but when the game starts, you lose yourself in it and concentrate on doing your job.
“The manager gave me one task: to stay with him [Alexis], and I seemed to do that quite well but again, we didn’t win so it doesn’t count as much.
“But it’s good to have the opportunity to play – the manager gives you a job and you have to show he can trust you for future games.”
Tuanzebe has been in and around the first-team squad since catching Mourinho’s eye in pre-season last summer, though his only previous senior outing prior to Sunday’s appearance came as a substitute in January’s Emirates FA Cup win over Wigan Athletic.
“You don’t have a time where you’re ready to play – you just have to be thrown into the deep end and if you can cope, you know you have confidence and you can fall back on it and think ‘yeah, I’ve played like that before and I can do it again’,” the youngster added.
“I feel in with the lads now. It also demonstrates to people that I can play and the lads have more trust in me, so it’s a good feeling.
“My goals now are to get as many minutes as I can until the end of the season and come back stronger for pre-season, to show the manager I’m here and one of the stronger candidates for next year’s team.”
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