Amorim and Garnacho on Utd need for more goals against Bilbao to seal Europa League final spot
07/05/2025
Carrington Training Centre, Manchester, UK
uefa Europa League
07/05/2025
Carrington Training Centre, Manchester, UK
uefa Europa League
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome everyone to press conference for our Europa League semi-final tomorrow against
00:10Athletic Club. With us we have Ruben Amrim and Alejandro Garnaccio. Please wait for the
00:16microphone and identify who the question is for. Start with Simon.
00:20It's not a big issue. That is a good thing. He cannot play tomorrow. We'll not play on
00:35Sunday but then we will check day by day. We will see. The rest I think Aiden doesn't
00:44recover. Toby is not available. I think, I think that's it.
00:59That is clear because also if you look at our season, anything is possible. So we have
01:07to understand that one goal can change everything, the momentum of the game. One
01:13cent off. You saw it one week ago. So we are prepared to fight for, to win the game. Not
01:22to thinking about the result. Of course that matters in the way we are going to do things
01:28especially when we start the game. But of course we are thinking about winning the game.
01:34Question for Andrew if I may. You've started the last 13 games to clear how important you
01:41are to the manager to the club. There's been a lot of speculation in the future but do you
01:46expect to be at Manchester United next season? Do you want to be at Manchester United next
01:49season?
01:51Yeah, obviously as a footballer you always want to read and listen to some rumours about the
01:57future but I have contact here until 2028 so I am happy here.
02:04The manager obviously took you out of the team against Manchester City a few months ago but
02:08you have been in every squad since then. Have you done anything differently in terms of
02:13the way you approach games, training? Because this has been clear to everyone watching you how
02:18you are. Yeah, obviously we know you have to work hard to be even in the squad. And then
02:25I just have to train well every day and I will be available for all the games.
02:35There's been a lot of speculation over the last 24-48 hours about Bruno Fernandes and his
02:42future. I know, as mentioned, there's a lot of rumours around. What is your view of Bruno Fernandes
02:49and his importance to this team and this squad, not just for the next two weeks, three weeks,
02:55but going forward?
02:57I think it's easy to understand that. Not just because of the numbers but the way he plays. The
03:03importance that he has during these five years, I think, here. He's a top player. We need a top
03:11players. He's a leader. He's the captain. So, he's really important. It's normal that there's
03:16a lot of clubs that want a player like Bruno, like Garnasio, like others, but we want to
03:22keep the best players and Bruno is clearly one of the top players in the world. So, our
03:28idea didn't change. We want Bruno here.
03:32Can I just ask you, Alejandro? At the start of your career, you came in, played a lot of games,
03:39got a lot of positivity last year. This season, you've been part of a struggling team. The
03:44managers come in and have been fairly brutal in terms of some of the things that you said
03:50about the team. How has that gone down in the dressing room and how is that for a young
03:57player to deal with? Yeah, I think it's not easy when in the middle of the season you change,
04:04for example, the manager and all the staff. But, yeah, in my mind it's always try to work
04:10hard every day and try to show the manager in this case that I need to play and it's the
04:17only thing I have to do.
04:18I think I watched a lot of time, the 30 minutes, the first 30 minutes and I forget the rest because
04:36you cannot prepare a game with 11 against 10 with 2-0 in that moment. So, I watched and I felt that, again,
04:46I had the feeling that they were really intense but most of the opportunities
04:53was a little bit our fault. We lost the possession. It was hard to find some place that they build up
04:59since the defense, the midfielders, the offense and they create the chance. It was more like
05:06we have the ball, we lose the ball, we have problems. So, we could show to the players
05:13that sometimes we have one idea that 30 minutes with a lot of problems and we try to describe slowly
05:22and to show to the players why we had that problem. So, we watched quite a few times and we showed to the
05:30players the simple moments to show why we had so many problems in the first 30 minutes.
05:38You're one goal involvement away from the match in Cristiano Ronaldo's record at this club when he was 21,
05:4525 goal involvement in the Premier League. I'm just wondering what kind of example does that set to you
05:49and what parts of your game do you think you need to improve to keep going into the path that you are?
05:55No, but I'm not focused on the numbers. I think when Cristiano played here it's a different football,
06:01a different type of games. I just try to help the team and try to win games.
06:08Obviously, yeah, missed chances and things like this. For example, we are training really hard.
06:14Me, Rasmus, all the strikers in the team. So, I think we are improving and we will try to do better.
06:20Do you have this kind of conversation with Rasmus about when to pass the ball, when to pass the ball yourself?
06:26Yeah, yeah, I speak with him a lot. We try to help each other but, yeah, sometimes from this side it's difficult, you know.
06:36But yeah, we try hard, we train hard every game to try to, all of these chances for example, try to score more of them
06:44and the team will improve if we score more goals.
06:49Is the Lyon game a reminder that you can't take anything for granted in 2-0 up?
06:53And does that show almost tomorrow night the biggest danger is not athletic but yourselves the chances of progressing?
07:01It's everything together. Again, if you look at our team we cannot control, we cannot say today what is going to happen.
07:08There are some teams in any league that can understand the game is going to be like this, can change a little bit
07:17but the story is going to be like this and we can control the narrative of the game. We cannot do that.
07:22So, we have to face the game as one more game. I feel that we need to score to go to the next round.
07:29So, that is clearly the way we are going to face the game again. And then we use some image, Brentford.
07:36We are near the draw but we suffer a goal and suffer another goal. Quite fast. That can happen.
07:41That happened four times here in Manchester United. So, we know that is going, we will have to suffer a little bit to go to the final.
07:51And we are ready to suffer and we need to be better in the small details in this game.
07:56So, you don't know which motivation are you going to start tomorrow night?
07:59Yeah, it's hard to say. And sometimes it's not what kind of team we will be tomorrow.
08:07Sometimes, even during the game, we are one team, something happens and we lose our mind a little bit.
08:15So, but we are improving the way we play. We are more confident. And we are ready to face this challenge.
08:20I appreciate it. It's always about the collective and the team.
08:24I know you played in a European team in the Europa League almost 11 years ago.
08:29But as a manager, this can be the first time you manage in the European environment.
08:32You can get united. That's all in personal level. How much would it mean to you as a manager in which you need to get there,
08:38despite all these other managers?
08:41The meaning is you have to win it. As a manager, it's not like the same as a player. You want to play. You want to enjoy.
08:51When you are a manager, you have to win it. Because if you lose in the final, it will hurt even more.
08:57Especially in this kind of season. So, we have to win it. But for that, we need to focus on the semi-final.
09:04So, I think it's different from coach to a player. But we need to focus first in our semi-final. Then we'll think about the finals.
09:16It doesn't matter. For us, it doesn't matter. For us, it's the top team of Athletic. I understand that it's hard to play with key players.
09:36But for us, it doesn't matter. We need to go to the game. It's a final for us. So, we need to go to the game and try to win the game.
09:46Paul?
09:47Hi, Ruben. Arsene Ben was talking about the Europa League.
09:50He said that you should review the procedure for the finalists. The finalists should go back into the Europa League and the Champions League.
09:57Is that something you disagree with? Because you obviously have to fight a long way.
10:01No. I don't have nothing to... I just know the rules. If people want to change the rules, by means.
10:08But these are the rules. And the rules are, if we win the Europa League, we go to the Champions League. So, we follow just the rules.
10:15I don't think a lot about that. I know that the Champions League should be for the teams that are champions or the best teams in the league.
10:23But they find out this way of promoting this kind of competition. So, we just follow the rules and try to manage this end of the season with that.
10:34So, we cannot go by the Premier League. We follow the rules and try to go for the Europa League.
10:42I will text him from visiting media.
10:44Yes. Jonas Gerdes, RTL Germany. Ruben, a few weeks ago, in a moment of big frustration, you labelled the team as maybe the worst one in class history in Manchester United.
10:58From today's point of view, now, being close to reaching the final, what do you think about this quote? Thank you.
11:07I think you have to see the quotes in the moment so things can change. And for me, in that moment, and if you look to Premier League, I think we are the worst.
11:19Since I arrived, we are the worst team in terms of the results in Premier League. That is my idea.
11:26In the end of this season, we can be the worst team in Premier League in history with a European title. So, we will not change nothing.
11:35We know that this season was really disappointed for everybody. Nothing is going to change.
11:41So, in that moment, sometimes I have to think a little bit more. But I felt that and I still feel that this season was the worst in the, I don't say, I don't know in history, but for sure in the last, I don't know, 50 years. I don't know. I have no idea.
12:00Thank you. Just one question to the player, because if a manager is talking like this, what's going on in your mind, hearing this kind of quote? And what's going on in the locker room?
12:11In terms of what, sorry?
12:13In terms of this drastic quote, like being the worst team?
12:18Yeah, we know, we know we are not doing a great job in the Premier League, but the manager said before, we follow the rules and now we have, for us it's a final. Tomorrow we're going to face the game like if it's nil-nil and we'll try to win the game, not just the global. And yeah, then if we win the Europa League, we will be in the Champions League and then we can face the next season with a better mentality and a different way.
12:46What do you expect from tomorrow night's game, Ruben?
13:07The idea of the team don't change.
13:12So, of course, if you look at the game, Berenguer could play on the left. He's a different player from Nico. He's playing more inside, make a different movement.
13:21Jalo, I know quite well Jalo could get in the team. He's quite similar in the way he moves with Iñaki. So, of course, Iñaki is a better player in this moment. He has experience.
13:32Sunset is a player that they don't have with that characteristics. He could play Gomez. Gomez is a left foot, could change the side.
13:39So, I think the idea of Athletic will not change, but the characteristics of the players will change and that is important for us to know, to understand better the game.
13:49So, he's going to be a strong team with a strong identity, with some players that are not playing so much. And that's it. That happens in any team.
14:01Okay. In the middle.
14:02Alejandro, I'm sorry.
14:03Alejandro, I'm sorry. This is Martínez, the predico de IA de IBO.
14:08Creo que tienes una relación con Pachi Alonso, con una persona que le hacía.
14:14No sé si te he cambiado algún mensaje en redes, qué te dice, cómo lo está viviendo él y cómo lo vive usted también desde la periódica.
14:23¿En español o en inglés? ¿En inglés? No, sí, sí, es un amigo de la familia y tenemos relación, he estado varias veces con él, pero sí, es fan del Bilbao y Atlético de Bilbao.
14:39Y nada, me escribió, me dio la enhorabuena por el partido, por la victoria y dijo que iban a venir con todo a intentar remontar y bueno, que a mí le hice suerte a ellos.
14:52Last question.
14:53Hello, Alejandro. Obviously, United have a very big history of flying wingers going back many, many years.
15:05Since Ruben came in, the system, the formation has changed quite dramatically.
15:10How have you found the change, the adaptation to this new system playing as number ten and not an out-and-out winger?
15:17And do you think we can actually see your best in that position or do you still very well see yourself as an out-and-out winger?
15:26Yeah, I think it's difficult for everyone when it's in the middle of the season when a new manager coming in and we change the formation, but we just need to follow the rules and I'm trying to improve every day.
15:40Obviously, the manager knows the characteristics of the players. If you see the games, too many times I play, for example, wide on the wing and the wing back is coming inside.
15:50So, we will try to do depends on the players we have and yeah, I think we are improving as a team also.
15:57Has it been hard, like mentally, tactically, as well as the game, to make that adaptation for you personally in the season? Have you found it a challenge?
16:08Yeah, I think it's a little bit hard, but it's just the mentality, you know.
16:12I think the first two months when I think November, December was very difficult for me.
16:18But yeah, my mentality is to keep working, to keep trying and show to the manager and all the stuff that I have to play and that's it.
16:26We'll leave you there, thank you.