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Tuesday 28 January 2025 12:41
Andre Onana says the Manchester United squad already has its sights set on making the Europa League final in Bilbao this May.
The Reds face FCSB on Thursday in our final league-phase game and a win over the Romanians will secure an automatic place in the round of 16, without us needing to enter the play-offs.
But Onana is already looking further ahead, underlining the significance of the competition, not just for this season but next term too.
“The most important thing for us is to win,” said Andre. “As a Manchester United player, we know how important that competition is.
“For me, we have to win the Europa League. For the guys, they all know it’s a big opportunity for us to go directly into the Champions League, so we will give everything to win the Europa League.
“If we fail, it’s not good because it’s something we definitely have to win and we will give everything to win. It will not be easy because some opponents are very good, and that’s why we’ve drawn some games against very good opponents in the past.
“But the mentality and the standard is always high. So any competition we will step in to play, we have to win, and the Europa League is one of them, so we’ll go there with the winning mentality, to play the last game in Bilbao.
“We already know where the final is, so we have to be ready to give everything and try to win the Europa League because it’s very important for us, not only the Europa League [but also] in the FA Cup and in the Premier League we have to try to finish as high as we can.”
Onana knows what it takes to reach the Europa League final and he was on the pitch when United lifted the trophy in Stockholm, in 2017.
The Cameroon international was a mainstay for Ajax when they made it to the showpiece event, at the end of his first season with the senior team.
Although the result did not go the way of the Amsterdam club on that occasion, he remembers the valuable experience and wants to go one better this time around.
“For us, it was just unbelievable because, a few months before, we were playing with the second team and we achieved for Ajax the unthinkable at that time,” he added.
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“We were young players and we were playing so good with no experience and then bam, we arrived to the final.
“Of course, we play against better teams than ours. They had a great coach, great players. We lost because they were just better than us and we were young with no experience.
“I lost against them so I have to win for them. Now, we have a bit more experience. We know the competition. We can read the games. We know when to play long, when to play short, we can feel it.
“It’s a different time. A lot of time has passed already, so we’ll be ready.”
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Matthijs de Ligt was also in that Ajax team and Onana has relished rekindling his relationship with the centre-back in Manchester this season.
“I enjoyed myself playing with him in Ajax and I’m enjoying myself playing with him here. What a good guy. Very good player.
“Not only him, we are all good guys here because we know each other for more than one year already but you have some players who have just arrived.
“They’re very good guys, it’s a very good group, so I’m very proud of this team. I’m happy to be part of this family because, at the end of the day, only together we can achieve big things.”
This interview was first published in the Rangers edition of United Review.
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Tuesday 28 January 2025 12:41
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