Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has told the media that his next target is the Premier League. He made these comments in the mixed zone after his side were knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties following a full time draw with Fulham.
Amorim watched as his side struggled to break down a strong Cottagers team and also witnessed another magical performance from captain Bruno Fernandes which helped his club secure a penalty shootout.
Defender Calvin Bassey had given the Cottagers a 1-0 lead at the stroke of half-time but Fernandes restored parity for the home side in the second.
Andre Onana, United’s other standout player, continued his good shift in the United goal which helped them survive extra time and take the game into a penalty shootout.
Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who had gone the wrong way on the first three attempts in the shootout, then made two consecutive saves from Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee to knock Amorim’s side out of the competition. The pressure is now on Amorim, whose only chance of winning a silverware now is the UEFA Europa League in which they will face Real Sociedad in the last-16 first leg on Thursday.
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Amorim said to the media that the Premier League is his goal and that while it is not ideal to lose cup games, breaking their Premier League winless streak since 2013 is his main aim.
“The goal is to win the Premier League, so I know that we are losing games and losing trophies during this season but the goal is to win the Premier League again,” said Amorim.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take but that is our goal. If you think like that, we can suffer a little bit in these defeats, a lot sometimes, but we have a goal so we continue forward no matter what.”
“It’s impossible to know (how long it will take),” he added. “But you start understanding. I think the players are better, we understand better the league, we know what to do with the squad, what is the future and we’ll see in the future.”
Meanwhile, Fernandes also spoke about their upcoming game with Real Sociedad. “It’s going to be a tough one, a Spanish team that plays good football. They have very good players up front, good quality coming out from the back, so we need to be fresh to run with them,” he said.
