Harry Maguire says the Manchester United squad have been hard-hit by another semi-final defeat, but insists the performance on the night was good enough to warrant a win.
The Red Devils took an early lead in the Europa League semi-final thanks to a Bruno Fernandes penalty, but a Suso equaliser and Luuk de Jong winner sent Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side out.
Club captain Maguire pointed to a string of missed chances for his side early in the second half as evidence of superiority on the night and says the whole team must strive for improvement.
“It’s difficult, the boys are devastated,” he told BT Sport at full time.
“[We] created numerous chances, you’ve got to win the game. They’ve punished us. We’ve been ruthless at times this year but not tonight.
“We started with a high press but then let them out too easy. They didn’t create many chances, they’ve worked it down the right and we’ve got to do better.
“We conceded from two crosses, it’s not good enough. But we worked our socks off, we deserved to go through but fell short for the third semi-final this season.”
Despite a third-place finish in the Premier League—which guarantees Champions League action next season—and going deep in each cup competition representing a season of progress, Maguire says it’s not enough for a club of United’s stature to end a season empty-handed.
“Losing isn’t acceptable, getting to semi-finals isn’t acceptable. We’ve got to concentrate on taking another step. People will say it’s a good season but do we want to finish third next season? No, for sure.
“We want to win silverware, we got to three semis. It was disappointing in the League Cup, we didn’t turn up in the FA Cup. Tonight we deserved it.”
