[UCL] Manchester United 1-2 Sevilla

[Andi Istiabudi]

MOURINHO REACTS TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EXIT

Jose Mourinho says his Manchester United team must move on quickly after being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Sevilla on Tuesday night.

After a goalless draw in Andalucia three weeks ago, the Reds suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat in the second leg at Old Trafford as the Spanish side progressed to the quarter-finals.

Read the key points from the boss in his post-match interviews with MUTV and BT Sport…

SECOND SEVILLA GOAL MADE IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE
“I think the first goal will always be important in this match – not just because of the first leg result [a goalless draw] but also because of the profile of the match [a Champions League last-16 tie]. We tried since the first minute to be aggressive and to be intense and I could find some similarities between this game and the beginning against Liverpool last weekend. But then, we didn’t score and Sevilla progressively kept the ball, they were quite confident having the ball and hiding the ball from us and controlling the game well. In spite of that, we didn’t have problems in the first half. In the second half, we had good chances to score. We had good and dangerous approaches to their box. They scored a goal and from that moment everything became much more emotional and much more difficult and the second goal made it almost impossible.”

IT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT
“It would always be a difficult match against a good team. The first goal was important for the mentality especially from the psychological point of view. The team started well but the goal was missing. The first half, we had everything under control. Sevilla were more than happy with 0-0 and that was exactly what they tried for. In the second half, we had chances and dangerous approaches but they scored before us. After that, we were on the edge and it was really difficult. You can concede with more time to play. I said yesterday to the press, I expected this from them, this type of approach. They let the game go until a very dangerous period for us, which they did, and they scored a goal. After that, everything was more difficult as, especially, we had less time.”

NOTHING WRONG WITH THE TEAM’S ATTITUDE
“We always want more quality and movement but the players were completely free for that and we had good situations. I saw one just in front of me in the best period of the first half with Antonio Valencia, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford which is exactly what we work for and this is exactly what we want. We had good situations, we had good periods. I don’t think we had control of the game because the opponent had that, but I cannot say that my players had something wrong in terms of their attitude and their intention to play.”

HAPPY WITH THE PLAYERS’ SADNESS
“Of course, everybody is sad and I told the players in the dressing room I’m happy with this sadness. Really happy with that. There is not time to be sad for a long time, though. We have a match on Saturday and hopefully the players will be back on the training ground and focused on that important game. I said for the two matches against Sevilla and Brighton, if you win you are in and, if you lose, you are out.”

WE MUST MOVE ON QUICKLY
“Yes [we have to look at winning the FA Cup and finishing in the top four]. But a fantastic team like Tottenham has exactly the same target as us to do that. Liverpool have the Champions League but don’t have the FA Cup and that’s football and that’s life. We lost and tomorrow is another day. We have no time for dramas. We have to work because on Saturday we have another important match.”

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