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Mata praises De Gea’s role in helping Manchester United salvage some pride

The second came in the second half through Roberto Firmino who got on the end of a good Jordan Henderson pass to score past an otherwise excellent David de Gea.

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Songs referencing the stadium disasters at Hillsborough and Heysel in the 1980s could be heard during the last-16 first leg at Anfield, in which United lost 2-0.

De Gea’s interventions in the first half meant that although United reached the break on the back foot, and opened up more times than they cared to remember, they were only one goal down and still very much in the game, never mind the tie.

“I don’t want them saying sorry on social media”, he said. Other sides with a clear advantage were Shakhtar Donetsk, which beat Anderlecht 3-1, and Villarreal, which defeated Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at home.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has insisted that his methods are working despite his side’s one-sided Europa League loss to arch rivals Liverpool and struggles in the Premier League.

That may prove more hard than overturning a two goal deficit, since Old Trafford is rarely a cauldron whereas the Liverpool support exceeded even Klopp’s expectations.

In contention to win the English league for the first time since 1961, Spurs rested key players against Dortmund – including top scorer Harry Kane and defensive midfielder Eric Dier – and paid the price by being overwhelmed in Germany.

Despite congratulating Liverpool on their good all-round performance, United’s Dutch coach Louis van Gaal had a bone to pick with both goals. We need to recover as soon as possible and then focus just on the FA Cup.

“United have spent 250 million pounds ($357 million) under Van Gaal. they are sixth in the Premier League and have ended up in the Europa League”, added Scholes.

Jurgen Klopp tactically outclassed his opposite number, with the Dutchman making several baffling decisions.

Their season, however, has been marked by erratic displays with superb victories over Manchester City, home and away, and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge being offset by frustrating defeats by Crystal Palace, Watford and Newcastle United.

“We can recover and focus on the game but I am sure Manchester United players are fit enough to play two games in a week”.

Here are three things we learned from the first leg of the round-of-16 clash.

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But the 18-year-old forward can not perform miracles forever. I don’t think we were in the third and fourth phase very creative, but that’s also down to the defense of Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp Football365