Victor Lindelof has reflected on a positive night for Manchester United as they oversaw a 3-0 win against Sheriff at Old Trafford.
Goals from Diogo Dalot, Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo secured all three points as the Red Devils displayed a dominant performance and picked up a clean sheet.
There’s still work to do, though, as United will travel to Spain next week to face Real Sociedad in their final Europa League group game. To avoid play-off matches against the demoted Champions League teams, United must win by two or more goals.
United have only five fixtures remaining before the World Cup and five wins should be the expectation.
Heading into the prolonged international break as Group E winners and in the top four in the Premier League table would give the squad and fans a significant boost of momentum for when club action returns in December.
Lindelof’s post-match thoughts
The Swedish international will play a key role for United leading up to the World Cup due to Raphael Varane’s injury, which keeps him out of action for the Reds until the tournament ends. Lindelof missed the start of the season due to injury but has since been eased back into the team alongside new partner Lisandro Martinez.
He gave his thoughts on last night’s win to MUTV, saying: “I think we controlled the game, obviously they [Sheriff] defend with everyone behind the ball, so in games like this it’s very important to try and keep a high tempo with the ball and try and get them to move from side to side. We scored three goals and kept a clean sheet so, yeah, a good job from us.
“In games like , that’s one of the most important things – to keep the concentration levels up. We have a lot of the ball and in any way we can lose the ball and they can counter-attack, so it’s very, very important for us in the back to stay focused.”
On contributing a goal for United, he laughed and said: “It’s been a long time! Maybe in the future I can score one, but I’m just happy that he [Dalot] scored today and I think he’s performed fantastic since the start of the season so I’m very happy for him.”
Regarding Harry Maguire’s return from injury, he added: “It’s very nice to have him back, Donny [Van de Beek] as well. First game back in a long time, very happy to have them back. It’s always important to have a full squad.”
When asked about the importance of winning the group next week, he replied: “Since we started the group stage we always had the goal to finish first so, like you said, we don’t have to play an extra game. I think that’s very important. We’re going to go down to Spain and try to win the game.”
