After reaching the final with an 8-5 aggregate win over Roma, the Manchester United manager feels that any team that gets to a title clash is a good team.
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Manchester United have reached their first final under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after prevailing 8-5 in aggregate over Roma in the Europa League semifinals. United lost the second leg 2-3 at the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday night, but a thumping 6-2 first-leg victory was enough to help the club reach the title clash in Gdansk on May 26th. The Red Devils will be facing Spanish club Villarreal after they defeated Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate in the semifinals.
“[They’ve] beaten an Arsenal side which is never easy and any team that gets to a final is a good team,” Solskjaer said after the match. “It’s going to be a difficult game but we’re looking forward to it, this is what we’ve always wanted – to play a final, last game of the season, chance to win a trophy. We’ve lost four semifinals and finally, we’re through.”
“We’ve just got to start analysing Villarreal, of course, we’ve watched them a little bit now. We know a little bit about them, but we’re ready for a final. It’s a one-off. The second leg in the semis is always a difficult game, but a final is a final. Anything can happen but we’ll prepare well.”
Praising the entire team’s efforts, Ole said the team played “very good football” along the way to reach the final. “It’s a team effort, it’s the whole team,” he added. “We’ve had our ups and downs and we’ve played some very, very good football. The second half today was disappointing, very poor, but we’re in the final and we’ve got a good end to the season now. We’re looking forward to 26 May.”
In the Premier League, Manchester United will encounter fixture congestion in the coming days. Speaking about it, Ole said, “We’ve been dealt a very bad hand and I’ve just got to do what I have to do. Let’s see how we’ll deal with it. Two games in three days, or three games in five is very, very difficult. Four in eight is impossible.”
The manager is also hopeful of having all the players fit for the difficult run of games which they are about to face in the league. “I hope so, we’re going to need everyone anyway in these four games and we’ve just got to see how they are on Sunday morning. We play at two o’clock on Sunday so that’s a short turnaround but we’ll have to be ready and that’s just how it is,” he elaborated.
