Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has told his squad they need to respond quickly after being dumped out of the Champions League by Sevilla last night.
The Red Devils were stunned 2-1 at Old Trafford by an unfancied Sevilla team who’d never previously won on English soil and who currently sit 5th in La Liga – 11 points off even securing a Champions League place again for next season.
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Make no mistake about it, United should have won this tie easily over two legs, and Mourinho didn’t sound like he had too much room for sympathy for his squad as they were dealt an early exit from Europe.
Speaking after the game, the Portuguese said he was happy to see sadness in his players, but also warned them that it cannot go on for too long as the club need to bounce back against Brighton in the FA Cup this weekend.
‘Of course everybody is sad, as I told the players in the dressing room, I’m happy with this sadness, I’m really happy with that,’ Mourinho told MUTV.
‘But we have no time to be sad for a long time, we have a match on Saturday.
‘The players are back to the training ground, and focusing in an important match on Saturday as I was saying these two matches against Sevilla and Brighton, if you win you’re in, if you’re lose you’re out.’
That trophy now represents United’s only realistic hope of picking up silverware this season, with rivals Manchester City just two wins away from mathematically wrapping up the Premier League title.