Manchester United manager, Louis van Gaal can finally take a breather following his side's victory against their city rivals at Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The Red Devils edged past Manchester City thanks to a 1-0 score which closed the gap between the two heavyweight Manchester sides to a single point.
The final scoreline is sure to elevate a morally down Manchester United side which got eliminated from the Europa League earlier this week courtesy a 3-1 loss on aggregate at the hands of their arch rivals Liverpool.
The Red Devils manager, Louis van Gaal seemed to be ecstatic with his team's performance and strongly believes that this victory will change the entire dressing room scenario for better.
In an interview given to BBC, the 64-year-old Dutch manager said, “I thought we played fantastic in the first half and the second half was a test of survival because we were very tired. We had only two days to recover after the Liverpool game and that is almost not possible.”
On this similar context, the Manchester United boss also believes that his team played a major role in the Merseyside club's 3-2 defeat at the hands of Southampton on the same day.
“We have seen the result from Southampton today. Liverpool were 2-0 up at half-time and at full-time it was 3-2 to Southampton. I have not seen the match but I can only conclude it was because of tiredness and that is what we have done to them,” the Dutchman added.
The two big clubs of English football were pitted against each other at the round-of-16 stage of the Europa League. Liverpool had won the first leg of the fixture by a score of 2-0 whereas, the second leg which was played at Old Trafford on Thursday yielded a 1-1 stalemate with the Anfield-based side advancing to the quarter-final stage of the competition.
However on Sunday, as Manchester United stunned City with a 1-0 win at the Etihad, Liverpool slumped to yet another loss in the Premier League courtesy a sublime fightback by the Saints players who were down by a couple of goals at the half-time.
Having said that, when asked about United's top four chances this season, Van Gaal told the press, “I think we have to fight until the end. We have more home matches than away matches. At Old Trafford, we don’t lose so much and we have the support of our fans.”
