Ten Hag delivered rousing Man Utd dressing room speech after Betis win

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Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag rallied his troops in the immediate aftermath of their 1–0 Europa League win over Real Betis on Thursday, according to David De Gea. The Red Devils sealed their passage to the quarter-finals of the competition courtesy of a thunderbolt strike from Marcus Rashford. And it means their hopes of a cup treble remain alive, too.

Manchester United had entered the second leg of their tie with Real Betis 4-1 up from the first game at Old Trafford last week.

And though the home side posed a threat, Rashford’s goal in the 56th minute ended the hosts’ hopes of a dramatic comeback.

De Gea, speaking to club media, has now revealed Ten Hag rallied the players in the aftermath of the game – urging them to immediately focus on Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final match against Fulham.

He said: “Starting now, the manager says, ‘Come on guys, take the shower and go home quickly to recover as soon as possible.’

“Yeah, it’s non-stop.

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“We play again on Sunday, another big game, another big competition, so we have to recover really well, prepare the game as best as we can and go again.”

United have already won one trophy this season in the form of the Carabao Cup.

They secured that prize with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle at Wembley last month, with Rashford and Casemiro on target.

And De Gea has insisted the Red Devils will do all they can to add to that piece of silverware, with the club still able to win a cup treble this term.

“Trophies are important for us,” said the veteran, who was part of the squad that won the Europa League under Jose Mourinho in 2017.

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“I think the manager has shown that, putting the strong team every game.

“We want to try to win the competition. We know there are still good teams, but we are confident, we believe in ourselves and let’s see what happens in the draw.”

On his side’s performance in Spain, he added: “Of course, we knew we are three goals in front, but we came to a difficult pitch against a very good team.

“I think they showed in the first 20 minutes, they have two, three big chances.

“But I think the team defend really well, we play good football. At the end, we score a great goal. We are in the next step.

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“From the striker until the goalkeeper, we defend really well. We press really high, we try to recover the ball high and try to score goals.

“I think after the first 20 minutes, because they were trying everything to score, after that, I think we controlled the game. We have very good chances, we score a great goal and we are in the next round.”

As for Ten Hag, the United boss was happy with his side for getting the job done out in Seville.

“Of course, what we have to avoid is getting the stadium lightened up, to give them energy by conceding a goal,” said the 53-year-old.

“So don’t light up the stadium. We have seen there was some noise at the start of the game.

“We allowed them some transition moments but, once you score that first goal, the game is gone for them.

“They don’t have the belief any more and you have to manage that away stadium.

“We could have scored before half-time because the first goal is so important. We created some chances but the final pass was not good, the finish was not good.

“It was still 0-0 and they still believed but, after the 1-0 for us, I think their belief was gone already.”

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