EURO TUNNEL L VISION
Herrera says United have to play down expectations and be humble about Champions League ambitions this season
THE Champions League anthem will once again boom out at Old Trafford tomorrow but Ander Herrera is striking a cautious note.
Herrera is playing down expectations around Manchester United’s return to European football’s big time.
Yes, United are one of Europe’s big beasts, but Herrera knows they have achieved little in the competition in recent years.
Since reaching the quarterfinals in 2014, they have twice failed to qualify and been eliminated at the group stage. It says it all that Leicester City have a better record in the Champions League over this period.
Herrera is mindful that United scrambled in through the back door by winning the Europa League and was quick to dampen talk of them going all the way ahead of their opener against Basel.
“We have to know where we come from,” he said. “We have come from the Europa League. We won it, it’s a good trophy, but it is the Europa League.
“We were sixth in the Premier League so we have to respect every team we face because they deserve to be in the Champions League. We want to fight for every title.
“Last season we won three titles, which wasn’t bad, but we didn’t fight for the Premier League and we were not in the Champions League so we have to be humble. We are ready, but we have to respect every opponent and realise where we have come from.
“We are a big club, maybe the biggest in the world, but we
not in Champions League last season and we have to take it step by step.
“The first task we have is Basel. We cannot think of winning the Champions League now – we have to take it one step at a time.”
Herrera knows United lack Champions League experience compared to their rivals; Michael Carrick and Antonio Valencia are the only survivors from the side which last reached the final in 2011.
Former Chelsea and Everton striker Romelu Lukaku will be making his Champions League debut tomorrow and Herrera is backing him to continue his hot scoring streak.
After Eric Maxim ChoupoMoting put Stoke ahead with the first of his two goals, Marcus Rashford equalised before Lukaku bagged his fifth of the season. Herrera said: “It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t played Champions League before. He has scored goals in the best league in the world, so he will score goals for us. He wants to win things.
“Last season we won three titles because we had one of the top scorers in Zlatan Ibrahiwere movic. If you want to be a champion and win titles, you need a guy like him and Romelu is doing fantastic for us.”
Saturday was Herrera’s first Premier League start and the Spaniard is discovering that winning the Sir Matt Busby player-of-the-year award last season counts for little in Jose Mourinho’s eyes.
Mourinho has given Herrera’s holding midfield position to Nemanja Matic, but, typical of the Basque, he is not kicking up a fuss. “I am a team player and when the manager needs me, I will be there,” he said.