Thursday’s 2-0 victory over FCSB not only confirmed United as one of the league phase’s top-eight teams but also allowed them to skip the knockout round play-off in February.
With European duties now on hold until March’s round-of-16 clash, Manchester United will face one of Galatasaray, Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar, or Midtjylland.
The club has a rich history with Galatasaray, having faced the Turkish side in several memorable encounters. Their most recent meeting with Real Sociedad came in 2022, when Alejandro Garnacho scored his first senior goal in a 1-0 away victory.
Dutch club AZ Alkmaar previously played United twice in 2019, while Danish side Midtjylland was the opponent when Marcus Rashford made his remarkable first-team debut.
Scroll down for key quotes from the head coach’s post-match interview with MUTV and press conference following Thursday’s win at the National Arena in Bucharest…
Last-16 Qualification a Major Boost
That is massive for us. The joy of winning, the feeling of winning, but we will have two [free] weeks to work on our idea and to prepare for the games. It’s really massive for us. We are in the next stage, we are going to prepare for the next stage, but the most important thing now is to recover. Sunday, we have a game with our fans and we have to be ready for that.
Winning Mentality Taking Shape
It’s [becoming] more natural, the feeling of winning. That’s really important. You can feel the dressing room is more relaxed but more relaxed in a good way because we know that everything can change on Sunday, but you feel it’s a different environment. You want to keep that feeling to work in a better way.
Second-Half Opened Up More Opportunities
We played quite well but a bit more slowly, also the opposition were really close in the first half and they covered all the spaces. They pressed the three defenders with just one player but we’ve managed to create some chances. We didn’t score but then, in the second half, you can see the opponents getting tired and slower when covering the space. We had more space with Kobbie between the lines and one-on-one with Amad and the pace of Alejandro Garnacho. I think it helped an awful lot. We managed to score two and we should score more. We had positions, sometimes four v two, and we have to do more with this kind of play.
Dalot and Mainoo’s Goals a Positive Sign
Diogo has already had some chances in different games. Kobbie Mainoo played in a different position, with more freedom, more near the box. He’s so technical, he can change the game there. So, I think it’s a good position for him, we will see. But I’m happy to see Kobbie enjoy the game more. Sometimes, he’s worrying about the recovery [runs], trying to defend and I know that he’s trying. Today, I felt Kobbie enjoyed the game more and I am happy for that.
Electric Atmosphere at the National Arena
It was amazing. Really noisy and really good support but you can see our players are used to playing in this kind of environment.
Staying in Romania to Prepare for Palace
There’s no other way to do it. We can go back and don’t sleep, don’t eat properly. So we are going to eat now, sleep, some guys are going to train, we are going to recover. We arrive [back in Manchester] late [on Friday], some players can be a little bit upset but it’s a good thing and they will be prepared for Sunday.
The play-off draw is scheduled for Friday at 12:00 GMT, with the two-legged ties set to take place on 13 and 20 February.
The round-of-16 draw will follow on Friday, 21 February, mapping out the potential path to Bilbao, including the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The last-16 fixtures are set to be played on 6 and 13 March.
Next up is a Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Sunday, something Amorim was already considering as he reflected on a successful night in Romania.
