MOURINHO REACTS TO WIN OVER SAINT-ETIENNE

MOURINHO REACTS TO WIN OVER SAINT-ETIENNE

Manchester United secured a 3-0 win over Saint-Etienne in Thursday's Europa League Round of 32 first-leg tie at Old Trafford and Jose Mourinho was clearly satisfied with the result.
Here are the main points from the manager's MUTV interview following the final whistle...

ASSESSMENT OF THE RESULT

"The result is really good, especially after a first half when we didn't play well - far from it. It is a really good result but it is not over, it is still dangerous."

WORDS AT HALF-TIME

"My first message was that it is impossible to play football at a high level without concentration, without intensity. That was the first message. After that I went through a couple of tactical details, I changed the team a little bit, but the most important thing was really the attitude because we started the game with an immediate back-pass to a striker to face Romero in a one-against-one, so we started pretty badly."

PRAISE FOR THE HAT-TRICK HERO

"He has scored so many hat-tricks in his career but this is a first for Manchester United. We know that it is more difficult in England, we know clearly that it is fantastic for him, but the important thing is the result and the important thing is that we managed a clean sheet at home, which is important, and to score three goals is a good advantage for us. We can try to manage with that."

THE TIE IS NOT OVER

"I've had crazy experiences in football. I was losing against Tottenham once, 3-0 at half-time, and we drew 3-3. I was winning, it was Real Madrid against Galatasaray, we won 3-0 at home and then were losing 3-1 in Istanbul [the tie ended in a 5-3 aggregate win for Real]. I have been through so many crazy experiences that I believe in anything. We have to go there, defend well, not concede and try to score a goal that will put them in a very difficult situation.