Paul Pogba accepted responsibility for giving away a penalty in Manchester United’s draw with West Ham after Gary Neville labelled the France midfielder “embarrassing”.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said Pogba knew he should have taken Declan Rice’s long shot “in the mush” instead of handling in the area.
Michael Antonio scored from the spot – and it required a Mason Greenwood strike to earn a point that moved United up to third heading into the final game of the season.
Sky Sports pundit Neville laid into Pogba after the incident, saying: “It’s rubbish from him. Rubbish.
“And to think I felt a little bit sorry for him. I thought he took a whack in the head. Embarrassing.
“You don’t do that, you take it in your grid.”
Solskjaer said: “It’s a natural reaction. He held his hands up knowing he should have took it in the mush instead. It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.”
“Harry Maguire added: “You can say it’s a natural reaction from Paul. Should he do it? He should probably take one in the face.
“He’s apologised in there. Held his hands up.”
A draw means United have to avoid defeat at Leicester on Sunday to secure Champions League football.
In Pictures | Manchester United vs West Ham | 22/07/2020
Solskjaer hailed his team’s form in pushing their way into the top four, despite back-to-back home draws against Southampton and West Ham.
He told his players they now have a one off showdown to ensure the season is a success.
“We have gone out in two semis so now we’ve got a final and have to embrace it,” he said. “We pinpointed this one, the Leicester game, as if we have a chance, go in there and beat them big and we’d be delighted.
“Then we’ve caught up on points, caught up on goal difference and we’ve given ourselves a fantastic opportunity.
“When we aware after lockdown we had to go for it, we had to go for goal difference and points and the effort has been fantastic and the results.
“Of course we wanted to win against Southampton and here today we concede a penalty just before half time. We’ve given ourselves fantastic opportunity and great starting point for Sunday.”