‘The Players Tried’- José Mourinho

Manchester United slumped to a goal-less draw at Old Trafford earlier yesterday, as they hosted Valencia for their group stage match in the UEFA European Championship (Champions league). While many criticized the lack of intent from the United players, José Mourinho backed his players for their effort.

“They tried, the players tried and they raised the level of their effort. We raised our level and intensity and we tried to play in some crucial positions building up but we don’t have the technical quality to build from the back”, said José Mourinho. “We did something well – we tried to stop a very dangerous and very fast team on the counter-attack and we tried to create chances to win the game.”

“It was a frustrating night and not the result we want. There were some improvements in our performance”, said the Portuguese. He also said that they had a difficult group in the UEFA Europesan Championship and that the result was fair. “So, in such a difficult group like we have, if you cannot win, you don’t lose. I think we were the team that tried more and had probably a couple of the biggest chances to win it but I accept the result as a fair result”, he said. “So we thought with three or four chances, we would score and win the game. Which we didn’t but, as I was saying, it’s not a bad result.”

He also spoke about the tight situation with the points in the group. “So they will have seven and we have two matches with Juventus to make points and, the last match, we will probably go there [the Mestalla] to decide but it’s a very difficult group”, said José Mourinho.