Man Utd should never get used to losing: Fernandes

Fernandes rescued his side with a stoppage time winner to beat an under-strength Rangers 2-1 on Thursday and close in on direct passage to the Europa League last 16.

United had lost four of their previous five home games, which prompted manager Ruben Amorim to declare his side "the worst" in the club's storied history.

"At this club, you need to win every game, you know that if you don't win games here it is going to be difficult, there are going to be tough moments," Fernandes told TNT Sports. 

"This is a massive club that is used to winning games. I hope that our fans never get used to losing games, even in this tough experience. I want them to feel like this team has to win every game."

A point away to Romanian side FCSB next week should be enough to secure a top-eight finish in the Europa League table for United and avoid the playoff round.

Amorim has been desperate to advance directly to the last 16 to give him some much-needed time on the training ground to imbed his ideas. Fernandes has higher ambitions as he targets winning the competition in Bilbao come May.

"Today was important to get the win because we want to get through in the Europa League, we want to go to the final," he added. "We want to be in the first eight so we avoid playing two more games."

United also struck late last week to come from 1-0 down to beat bottom-of-the-table Southampton 3-1 thanks to Amad Diallo's hat-trick. And Fernandes called for his side to show more consistency rather than needing late heroics to dig themselves out of trouble.

"It is not about proving the character, we have to prove that in the 90 minutes, we can't only bring that out when we concede a goal or something goes against us," he said.

"We need to be consistent through the 90 minutes, it does not matter about the result, we always have to be trying to find a way to win the game. Unfortunately for us we conceded a late goal and had to score a late winner."

 

January 24, 2025