Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits Man Utd were 'lucky' to beat Villarreal

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed that Manchester United were fortunate to beat Villarreal in their Champions League group stage meeting on Wednesday night.

The Red Devils were second best for much of the game at Old Trafford, and fell behind to a Paco Alcacer goal shortly after half time.

Alex Telles fired in a superb equaliser on the hour mark, before Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a 95th minute winner from close range to ease the pressure on his manager.

"That's what happens here at Old Trafford. It's happened so many times here," Solskjaer told BT Sport of Ronaldo's winner.

"Of course, we have to throw caution to the wind and we got lucky in the end.

While Solskjaer realised it was not United's finest performance, he praised Unai Emery's side and insisted it was always going to be a tough game, as was demonstrated by their meeting in the Europa League final in May.

"[Villarreal] are a good team, they're a very very hard team to beat, they've not lost a game since way before the [Europa League] final," he added.

"It's a difficult one because we're at home and want to win, but they play so well. But if we don't go and impress them, they'll be happy enough sitting off.

But Ronaldo, as he so often does, got the last laugh, and Solskjaer believes his impact is benefitting everyone at the club.

"Sometimes it's not about 'pass there, pass there', it's the crowd - the Stretford End has sucked in a few balls before, I know that - and when you've got Cristiano on the pitch there's always a chance," he said.

"He's so, so good in front of goal. He has an impact on everyone - the crowd, the players, the whole club.

"It's massive for the players of course, to win games in this fashion after we lost in Bern in that fashion, it's great. I'd rather have a win and a defeat than two draws.