Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim believes his players improved against Rangers in their 2-1 Europa League win on Thursday.
Amorim’s side took the lead in the second half when Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland punched the ball into his own goal when attempting to deal with an inswinging corner.
Substitute Cyriel Dessers equalised with a beautiful late strike but Man Utd instantly bounced back through Bruno Fernandes, whose 92nd-minute strike earned the Red Devils three points in the Europa League.
Victory puts Man Utd up to fourth in the league phase, while Rangers dropped from eighth to 13th.
The Premier League side are all but through to the last 16 and travel to Romania to face FCSB on the final matchday next week.
Rangers host Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise with automatic qualification still possible, but now pretty unlikely.
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After nabbing a point from them on Thursday, Man Utd now have to do the Scottish giants a favour against eighth-place FCSB.
As they tend to, the Red Devils underwhelmed but probably did deserve the victory against Philippe Clement’s side.
Amorim’s side remain unbeaten in Europe this season and the Portuguese believes his players improved on the ball but was disappointed at Matthijs de Ligt’s disallowed goal for a soft push on Gers centre-back Robin Propper.
“We did well,” he told TNT Sports after the 2-1 win at Old Trafford. “We played better with the ball.
“I think we started well and then we lost control of the game because of some bad decisions but the lads did well. We are so near the second goal with so many chances, it’s so hard but they recover.
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“We are not playing our best but we regrouped from the last game. I know the opponent is different. It wasn’t as fast. You can see the connections. I think we need to be more clinical in the right moments because that can help us a lot.
“It’s two weeks free to prepare for the Premier League (if they finish top eight) so it’s really important to stay in this position.
“We started the game scoring first, that is important. You can see that in Europe, it is quite different. We scored the first one and in the Premier League, it is not a foul.”
De Ligt was substituted for Harry Maguire at half-time and Amorim said he came off as a precaution, as did Leny Yoro in the second half.
“He felt something in his leg. Also, Leny so we cannot risk anything. We have to win but we have to protect the players and show that everyone matters in this moment,” he confirmed.
Amorim also said “I don’t know what will happen” when asked about new signings in the January transfer window, though he did admit “anything can happen”.
Match-winner Bruno Fernandes expressed the importance of finishing in the top eight to avoid two playoff matches contributing to a busy schedule in February
He told TNT Sports: “I know how much it means for the fans to win games. You really want to win games.
“We are a little bit frustrated because we started the year well here with two great games against Liverpool and Arsenal then Southampton we had good resilience but didn’t play good football. We had the game with Brighton which didn’t go for us.
“We want to get through the Europa League and get to the final in Bilbao. We want to get top eight so we don’t have to play two more games.
“It’s not about the character. We have to prove that in the 90 minutes, we can’t bring that out when we concede a goal. We concede a late goal and we have to score a late goal.
“At this club, you need to win every game. You know that if you don’t win games here, it will be difficult. I hope our fans never get used to losing games. I hope they believe in this team to win games.”
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