Erik ten Hag has heaped praise on his Manchester United team for dealing with adversity and staging a stirring comeback to beat Aston Villa.

There were some boos when the Reds trailed 2-0 at the interval but the Stretford End roared the team back for the second half and the picture changed completely.

Alejandro Garnacho was cruelly denied one back by a marginal VAR call, showing he was just offside from a Marcus Rashford pass, but the Argentina winger was not to be denied. The youngster twice fired home to level the scores and Rasmus Hojlund’s winner brought the house down.

Ten Hag felt it was a brilliant response from his team, particularly on the back of a goal-shy spell and the defeat at West Ham United.

“Keep believing. I think our fans, they deserved it. They are always behind us and we’ve had so many setbacks. I’m really pleased with the performance from my team. What can the team handle and deal with – so many setbacks in the first half of the season,” said Ten Hag.

“They were resilient and showed character and personality, to turn it around, and I’m very pleased with this performance from my team. They got the reward for their hard work and it’s actually unbelievable, so many setbacks that a normal team can’t handle it.

“This team can. They keep the confidence and belief, even when losing 2-0 and all the history from this season at their back. They kept fighting and got rewarded.”