Ander wants Europa final victory to end his pain
ANDER Herrera wants to heal an open wound in the Europa League that has been festering for five years.
United fly to Spain today for tomorrow night’s semi-final first-leg game against Celta Vigo before the return a week later at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho’s side’s Champions League qualification via the Premier League top four has become more difficult after Sunday’s home draw with Swansea City while City drew away at Middlesbrough, Arsenal lost the North London derby to Spurs and on Bank Holiday Monday Liverpool won at Watford.
So winning the Europa League final in Stockholm on May 24 could be the best chance for the Reds to return to the big Euro stage next season.
And Herrera also has a personal reason to win in Sweden as he’s suffered a Europa League final blow before in 2012 when Athletic Bilbao were beaten 3-0 in Bucharest by Atletico Madrid.
“The Europa League is a competition that makes me very excited because I lost the final five years ago and it still hurts,” says United’s midfielder.
“It’s like a knife in the back and I want to take that knife from my back.
“So hopefully we can fight for that title as well, but I know Celta Vigo very well from my La Liga days. They are a very difficult team. It is not going to be an easy semi final.” MARCUS Rashford has poured cold water on the notion that United boss Jose Mourinho is not a young player’s manager.
Mourinho has acquired a reputation for preferring seasoned campaigners.
But 19-year-old striker Rashford insists the critics could not be more wrong with their assessment of the Portuguese coach.
“Without even realising it for the young players, I think we have all come on so much,” said Rashford.
“Not just improvement in individual abilities but about the understanding of the game as a team.
“His influence on the younger ones especially is fantastic. We want that to continue because he is making us into better players.
“One hundred per cent I am a better player now.”
Mourinho is helping Rashford to become a more rounded attacker with stints on the left and right side as well as playing as the central forward.
“There are areas he instilling in me like playing on the left-hand side. How I see the game from there and how I see it from the right as well. They are things I didn’t have naturally inside me,” added Rashford.
“This season when I go to the left or right I see it differently to how I pictured it last season.
“I didn’t feel uncomfortable in the wide role but when something is is different it takes a while to get used to it. “Now it is a lot different how I play the position to who I played it when I first went out there. It is a good improvement. “I have only been playing back as a forward for maybe two seasons now. I was a centre-forward when I started and then I started drifting around. I have ended up back as a centre-forward and that is where I feel the most comfortable and the most at home. “But if I need to go in the right or left I am okay with it and happy to do it. “In football now there is no longer a No.9 who is just a No.9. “You look at all the strikers in the world now, I can only think of two or three who are No.9. Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez. “The qualities a striker needs now are different to what they used to be. You are just giving yourself all the tools for what any manager needs. That is the main thing. Marcus Rashford on Jose Mourinho