Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has set sights on the Europa League trophy after his side defeated Granada on 4-0 aggregate to set up a semifinal clash with Roma.
A 2-0 away win in the first leg was capped off with a fine Edinson Cavani finish and ab own goal from the visitors as United progressed 4-0 on aggregate.
Speaking to the club’s website and BT Sport, the Norweigian hailed his side’s disciplined and professional performance at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
He said, “When you go into these games 2-0 up, it’s a difficult one. We’ve got to have a disciplined, professional performance, which I thought we had. We got the first goal from Edinson [Cavani], a very good goal, and I think that’s decided the tie. From then on it’s about not giving stupid chances away, and we didn’t until the last few minutes, when David [De Gea] had a very good save.
“The boys have been fantastic, they’ve done great, the attitude [has been great]. We haven’t had one game that we could have rested players or taken our foot off the pedal, because they’ve had to play for results every single game. They’re that type of group that want to improve, and to be in a semi now is great, but we want to go all the way of course. We want to end the season with the best possible way – a final and a trophy, hopefully.”
United were highflying in the competition last season but crashed out in the semifinals against eventual winners, Sevilla. The Spaniards secured a 2-1 comeback with Suso cancelling Bruno Fernandes’ early goal before Luuk de Jong strung United at the death
Solskjaer would be hoping to put the disappointment aside as his side look to break the semifinal jinx having previously lost four under the Norwegian in all competitions.
Speaking ahead of the clash against the Italians, having eliminated fellow Serie A side, AC Milan in the round of 16, Solskjaer hopes United would come out as the eventual winner.
“I’ve not really seen too much of them. I know that they’ve had two good games against Ajax. They defend well, as Italians always do, of course. They’re an experienced team and we all know [Edin] Dzeko, so any ball in the box is a dangerous one. We’re looking forward to it, of course. We’re in a semi now, and it feels like a proper European tie, because Roma is a club with loads of tradition, history, but we’ve done well against Italian teams before. We’re looking forward to it and we’re going into them hoping to get to the final. If you can finish this season with a final and a trophy that would be great.”
