ERIK TEN HAG said “you don’t always get what you deserve” after Manchester United beat Real Sociedad but failed in their bid to avoid a potentially tough Europa League knockout round play-off tie.
Already assured of progress from Group E, the second-placed Red Devils arrived in Spain knowing they needed to win by a two-goal margin to usurp the first-placed hosts and progress straight to the round of 16.
Teenager Alejandro Garnacho got them off to a superb start but United lost their way after half-time, with Ten Hag’s alterations ineffective as La Real dug deep in a 1-0 defeat that means they topped the pool.
The Reds finish runners-up and will face one of the sides dropping out of the Champions League, with Barcelona, Juventus and Ten Hag’s former club Ajax among the possible opponents in Monday’s play-off draw.
“You don’t always get what you deserve – that’s football,” said the United boss, whose side lost September’s Group E opener 1-0 after Real converted a controversially-awarded penalty.
“When (in the) first leg you get a penalty that isn’t a penalty… today we win, so I’m happy with that. I’m happy with some other things like the performance from Garnacho.
“Donny (van de Beek) back in the team. I think we make a really good goal with Garnacho, some good chances as well in the first half.
“We win today but of course we are disappointed we didn’t score two goals because that is what we needed.”
Ten Hag struck a philosophical rather than frustrated tone following Thursday’s defeat in the Basque country, where Garnacho once again impressed.
The 18-year-old received a standing ovation following his first start against Sheriff Tiraspol last Thursday and opened his United account with an excellent goal in San Sebastian.
Ten Hag was pleased with Garnacho – who overtook George Best as the club’s youngest non-English goalscorer in major European competition – as the teenager stepped up in the absence of key players.
18 years and 125 days dreaming of this moment
— Alejandro Garnacho (@agarnacho7) November 3, 2022
Thanks Idol, @Cristiano pic.twitter.com/p3znaynaH3
“We need options,” the Dutchman told BT Sport. “We have problems there.
“Antony not available, Anthony Martial not available, Jadon Sancho not available, but I’m really happy with that performance and I hope he can keep the process going.
“He was a threat, he scored a goal, he was reliable defending so if you can keep this going I’m really happy.”
Ten Hag praised Garnacho’s “great finish” a week after revealing he had been irked by the teenager’s attitude earlier in the season – a situation Bruno Fernandes expanded on in Spain.
“He was good but he knows we expect a lot from him,” the Portuguese told BT Sport. “Obviously still really young, he’s doing really well.
“At the beginning of the season he was not at his best. In the tour he didn’t have the best attitude that he should have and that’s why he didn’t get his chances until now.
“He is getting his chances because he’s training better, having a different attitude and deserving his chances.”
United now turn their attentions to Sunday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa, which comes the day before a knockout round play-off draw that could see Ten Hag’s side paired against a tough opponent.
“We don’t need to look at that because our main goal was to go first, so we could avoid that (play-off),” Fernandes said when asked if he had been aware about the potential opponents.
“Now we have to play against one of them but that’s no problem for us if we want to win the competition.
“We have to fight good teams in any moment of the competition so sooner or later we will be ready for that.”
What has gone wrong with Athletes in Ireland. It must be our worst ever Olympics. The Irish records for field events like the shot put dates back to the 1980′s. Yes we can’t get thousands of women out jogging and mini marathons. There is no one moving into the sport. The men are no better. We have one last hope Robert Hefferen in the 50 k walk. Best of luck to him.
The banks. It’s the bankseses’ fault.
And Enda Kenny.
Any person who makes it to the Olympics is as a result of huge dedication sacrifice hard work so we should be very very proud of each and everyone of them. Well done you all especially our own
It’s one of our best Olympics!
Not in athletics it wasn’t. They were an embarrassment.
Thankfully our boxers’ successes overshadowed our embarrassing results in athletics.
Track and field in Ireland is just a disaster. One flop after another these games, very few PBs or SBs from our athletes compared to other nations where there athletes are peaking at the right time.
the boxers win because they are hungry…some of the other athletes come from privileged backgrounds