“Liverpool could’ve scored five or six goals easily”.
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For a while Louis van Gaal’s side had looked capable of a memorable comeback, but hopes were dashed as Liverpool held out for a 1-1 draw on the night, seeing them through 3-1 winners on aggregate.
It is reported by the Liverpool Echo that trouble broke out when Liverpool fans in the United end unfurled a banner that angered home supporters.
Liverpool had won the first leg 2 – 0 at Anfield and Jurgen Klopp’s men only needed to avoid a two-goal defeat in the second game to progress into the quarter final.
“The problem with confidence is it is like a little flower: if you step on it, it is away in a second – it is much more hard to let it grow than to let it die”, said the German.
Smalling is confident they can be successful on both fronts if they can replicate Thursday’s first-half display against Liverpool.
“We created enough chances but we know that, when you are attacking in this way and we are giving pressure, Liverpool will have counter chances”, he said after the match. They got a penalty – I think it was a penalty – then Phil had a genius moment.
“But we have to beat Manchester City, because it is another chance to qualify for the Champions League”.
“We probably should have scored a lot more goals and taken a lot more from the game”, the 23-year-old added.
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Manchester United face rivals Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday. “As long as we can keep that in our game now and push forward towards the end of the season, then I don’t see why we can’t be in the top four and win the FA Cup”. When you play for United and you put that jersey on, I always felt 10-foot tall. “We know that and we can cope with that but we were not lucky”. They applauded after the match despite the fact we were out of the Europa League. It was the most unexpected thing he could do in that situation – a flawless goal.
