Manchester United captain, Harry Maguire has urged the squad to stick together as they fight to prevent a disappointing season after the Champions League exit to Atletico Madrid.
The Red Devils’ last hope of ending their five-year trophy came to an end on Tuesday night after their 1 – 0 defeat to Atletico Madrid, who progressed with 2 – 1 aggregate due to their 1-1 draw in the first leg of this Champions League last-16 tie.
‘Of course, it’s going to be a disappointing couple of weeks now,’ he said as Atleti fans continued to sing long after the final whistle at Old Trafford.
‘The lads need to go, have a rest but make sure that we come back fighting for the end of the season.
‘We’ve got nine important Premier League games that we need to try to win every game that we play in, stick together.
‘My job as captain obviously has a big role in that as well and making sure that we stick together and we finish the season strong – because we owe it to the fans.’
Maguire was sarcastically cheered by home fans when replaced towards the end of Tuesday’s loss to Atletico.
‘I think the style in Europe, it’s not for me to really comment on,’ the defender told beIN Sports. ‘But, yeah, I think every time you touch someone, it’s a foul.
‘I mean Anthony (Elanga) has a header in the first couple of minutes. Heads the ball over the bar, the keeper probably comes and clatters him and he gets the foul, so, yeah, it’s a different style.
‘I think – as a team – we’ve maybe got learn from it, got to grow from it and don’t lose our discipline.
‘I felt like the last 20 to 30 minutes of the game we should have been pushing and creating a little bit more but we got too frustrated, we started losing our shape and we lost momentum in the game.
‘That’s something that we need to learn from but it’s a difficult night tonight because the lads are disappointed.’
Rangnick expressed his frustration with referee Slavko Vincic’s officiating after the match as did Maguire, who highlighted a potential foul on Elanga before Atleti scored what proved to be the winner.
