Christian Eriksen: Man Utd midfielder reveals Erik ten Hag’s half-time message vs Copenhagen

Christian Eriksen has revealed the message he received at half-time during Manchester United’s game against Copenhagen from Erik ten Hag.

The Champions League fixture ended with United’s first three points in their group, after losing the opening two fixtures against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray.

However, the 1-0 win was almost snatched in the last seconds of the game. The visitors were awarded a penalty and a chance to equalise in the dying moments at Old Trafford.

Instead, the situation allowed Andre Onana to turn hero and earn some much-needed love at the Theatre of Dreams as he saved the spot-kick.

It would’ve been a harsh moment for Erik ten Hag’s men if they drew. Despite a drab opening 45 minutes of football, they were clearly the better team in the second half and should’ve been two or three goals to the good come the end of the match.

Ten Hag made a change at the break, bringing Eriksen on the pitch for Sofyan Amrabat. The Danish international was the difference maker for The Reds as he assisted Harry Maguire’s winner and was awarded the Player of the Match award.

Eriksen, who has impressed off the bench in several recent games, explained that the Dutch boss wanted more creativity in the second half and that was the message given before he was brought on at half-time.

“Obviously the same as the first half, a bit more ball movements and to try and create a bit more and in the second half we had a lot of big chances to finish the game off,” replied Eriksen when asked by UEFA reporters what the message from Ten Hag was.

“But at the moment we’re making it difficult for ourselves and that made the end of the game what it was.”

United needed the victory on Tuesday as it puts them back into contention for qualification into the knockout rounds of the Champions League.

After Bayern Munich’s 3-1 win against Galatasaray, United now could move to second-place in the group should the results stay the same during the next round of games, where Bayern host the Turkish giants and United travel to Denmark.

“I think for us it was definitely the start [of progression],” added Eriksen. “Like I said, we lost the first two games so we need to catch up and this was the first win. Now we need two more, just to have a chance to go through, and we want to go through.

“So we only have one thing to do, and that is to win.”