Manager Van Gaal admits United were blown away by Liverpool in 0-2 defeat at Anfield
Liverpools Roberto Firmino (in red) shoots past Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea (left) to score his team�s second goal during their UEFA Europa League Round-of-16 first leg tie at Anfield in Liverpool on Thursday. Daniel Sturridge scored th
Liverpool: Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal said his team had been simply overwhelmed by Liverpool-s high pressing during their one-sided 0-2 Europa League defeat at a raucous Anfield on Thursday.
Liverpool-s Roberto Firmino in red shoots past Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea left to score his team’s second goal during their UEFA Europa League Round-of-16 first leg tie at Anfield in Liverpool on Thursday. Daniel Sturridge scored the first goal for Liverpool, who won 2-0. Pic/AFP
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Daniel Sturridge, with a penalty, and Roberto Firmino scored as Liverpool claimed a deserved win, and the hosts might have put the last 16 tie to bed had it not been for United goalkeeper David de Gea.
Ex-United players Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand, analysing the game for BT Sport, delivered stinging criticisms of their old team-s display — the former branding it -shambolic- — and Van Gaal conceded his side had struggled with the Liverpool-s intensity.
"I have seen we did not cope with the pressure, the high pressure of Liverpool," Van Gaal told his post-match press conference after the first ever European meeting between England-s two most successful clubs.
"We had expected that and for me it was a surprise we did not cope with that because they did it the same way in the home match this year that we played against them which United won 3-1. Because they provoked first, we could not play the ball from David de Gea to Daley Blind or Chris Smalling. They put a lot of pressure and we couldn-t cope," said Van Gaal, who described both Sturridge-s 20th-minute penalty, awarded after Memphis Depay tugged back Nathaniel Clyne, and Firmino-s late effort, which stemmed from a loose Michael Carrick clearance, as -cheap-.
Dortmund 3-0 Spurs
Meanwhile, a Marco Reus brace saw Borussia Dortmund beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 in their last 16, first leg.
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