Man Utd 'have to win Europa League' as Andre Onana piles pressure on team-mates
The Europa League represents Manchester United's best hope of qualifying for the Champions League.
Manchester United's Andre Onana has declared that winning the Europa League is crucial for the club after a season riddled with disappointment.
With the team languishing in 12th place in the Premier League, the Europa League offers a glimmer of hope.
The Red Devils are currently unbeaten and fourth in their group, and a victory over FCSB on Thursday night would ensure automatic progression to the last 16.
Onana emphasised the significance of clinching the Europa League title, which also secures a spot in next season's Champions League - a target seemingly out of reach through their league performance.
"The most important thing for us is to win," Onana said. "As a Manchester United player, we know how important that competition is.
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"For me, we have to win the Europa League. For the guys, they all know it's a big opportunity for us to go directly into the Champions League, so we will give everything to win the Europa League.
"If we fail, it's not good, because it's something we definitely have to win and we will give everything to win.
"It will not be easy, because some opponents are very good, and that's why we’ve drawn some games against very good opponents in the past.
"But the mentality and the standard is always high. So any competition we will step in to play, we have to win, and the Europa League is one of them, so we'll go there with the winning mentality, to play the last game in Bilbao.
"We already know where the final is [Bilbao], so we have to be ready to give everything and try to win the Europa League because it's very important for us, not only the Europa League but also in the FA Cup and in the Premier League we have to try to finish as high as we can."
Onana reached the Europa League final with Ajax in 2017, but was on the losing side as United won 2-0 in Stockholm.
He said: "I lost against them [United] so I have to win for them. Now we have a bit more experience. We know the competition. We can read the games.
"We know when to play long, when to play short, we can feel it. It's a different time. A lot of time has passed already, so we'll be ready."
