By Kieran Gill for MailOnline
Published: 08:37 GMT, 16 February 2019 | Updated: 08:47 GMT, 16 February 2019
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When Manchester United found themselves 2-0 down to Paris Saint-Germain after an hour at Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a decision to make.
He had already used two substitutions to bring Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata off the bench, but now he was staring at his first defeat as United caretaker.
So how would he use his third? The options left were a goalkeeper, two defenders, a midfielder and Romelu Lukaku, and Solskjaer's next move said a lot.
Romelu Lukaku has fallen down Manchester United's pecking order in the striker department
The Norwegian waited until the 84th minute to introduce Lukaku, the £75million striker who has fallen spectacularly down the pecking order since Jose Mourinho left Old Trafford.
During Mourinho's time at United, Lukaku started 77.5 per cent of all matches overseen by the Portuguese (62 of 80). Take substitutions into account and he appeared in 91.3 per cent.
LUKAKU UNDER MOURINHO
Manager's games: 80
Lukaku games: 73 (91.3%)
Lukaku starts: 62 (77.5%)
LUKAKU UNDER SOLSKJAER
Manager's games: 12
Lukaku games: 10 (83.3%)
Lukaku starts: 4 (33.3%)
Since Solskjaer took over, the striker has started just 33.3 per cent (4 of 12).
What arguably makes the situation worse for Lukaku is it is one of the club's greatest goalscorers who is deciding to use him in dribs and drabs. It is not just any old coach who is sidelining him. This is Solskjaer, the scorer of 126 goals in 366 games for United.
Mourinho's support of
