Amorim: Last-16 qualification is massive

Skip to Main NavigationSkip to content

Thursday 30 January 2025 23:55

Ruben Amorim says automatic qualification for the last-16 of the UEFA Europa League is a massive positive for Manchester United.

Thursday’s 2-0 win away to FCSB not only confirmed our status as one of the league phase’s top-eight finishers, but also ensured that we will bypass a two-legged knockout round play-off in February.

United can now park our European campaign until March’s round-of-16 tie, against one of four potential opponents, and return the focus to domestic matters over the coming weeks.

A Premier League contest with Crystal Palace is next up at Old Trafford on Sunday, and something the boss was already thinking about as he reviewed a positive night in Romania.

Scroll down for a selection of our head coach’s quotes from his post-match chat with MUTV and press conference, after Thursday’s 90 minutes at the National Arena in Bucharest…

QUALIFICATION FOR THE LAST 16

“That is massive for us. The joy of winning, the feeling of winning, but we will have two [free] weeks to work on our idea and to prepare for the games. It’s really massive for us. We are in the next stage, we are going to prepare for the next stage, but the most important thing now is to recover. Sunday, we have a game with our fans and we have to be ready for that.”

WINNING FEELING IS DEVELOPING

“It’s [becoming] more natural, the feeling of winning. That’s really important. You can feel the dressing room is more relaxed but more relaxed in a good way because we know that everything can change on Sunday, but you feel it’s a different environment. You want to keep that feeling to work in a better way.”

WE HAD MORE SPACE IN SECOND HALF

“We played quite well but a bit more slowly, also the opposition were really close in the first half and they covered all the spaces. They pressed the three defenders with just one player but we’ve managed to create some chances. We didn’t score but then, in the second half, you can see the opponents getting tired and slower when covering the space. We had more space with Kobbie between the lines and one-on-one with Amad and the pace of Alejandro Garnacho. I think it helped an awful lot. We managed to score two and we should score more. We had positions, sometimes four v two, and we have to do more with this kind of play.”

GOOD TO SEE DALOT AND MAINOO SCORE

“Diogo has already had some chances in different games. Kobbie Mainoo played in a different position, with more freedom, more near the box. He’s so technical, he can change the game there. So, I think it’s a good position for him, we will see. But I’m happy to see Kobbie enjoy the game more. Sometimes, he’s worrying about the recovery [runs], trying to defend and I know that he’s trying. Today, I felt Kobbie enjoyed the game more and I am happy for that.”

NOISE AT THE NATIONAL ARENA

“It was amazing. Really noisy and really good support but you can see our players are used to playing in this kind of environment.”

STAYING IN ROMANIA TO PREPARE FOR PALACE

“There’s no other way to do it. We can go back and don’t sleep, don’t eat properly. So we are going to eat now, sleep, some guys are going to train, we are going to recover. We arrive [back in Manchester] late [on Friday], some players can be a little bit upset but it’s a good thing and they will be prepared for Sunday.”

Recommended:

Thursday 30 January 2025 23:55