Matthijs de Ligt ready for battle as Man Utd enter ‘most important phase of season’

Matthijs de Ligt is ready to fight for trophies as Manchester United enter the “most important phase” of their season to forget.

The Red Devils have tasted their fair share of lows in the 12 years since Sir Alex Ferguson bowed out as a champion, but this campaign has been the nadir for a club dealing with issues on and off the field.

De Ligt did not expect to be scrapping in the bottom half when he joined from Bayern Munich in the summer, but the defender believes Ruben Amorim’s side can still end the season on a high.

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United managed that last term by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final and host Fulham in the fifth round on Sunday, before travelling to Spain for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie against Real Sociedad.

Put to De Ligt that Wednesday’s 3-2 win against Ipswich should quell talk of an unthinkable relegation, he said: “To be fair, I don’t see it in that way.

“I see it more in the way that we are going through a really important phase now, with the FA Cup and Europa League coming up, and obviously the Premier League also.

“I think this is a really good start to getting to that phase, but, as I say, we are still in two really important tournaments alongside the Premier League, so I see it as the beginning of the most important phase of the season.

“It’s a really big club. To be fair, I’ve never been used to playing for… like we’re now 14th in the standings, I think. In my career the worst I’ve been is fourth, so that’s quite new for me.

“But also you learn a lot from it and today was a really important win and hopefully we can build on that and give the players more confidence to do it better.”

United certainly had to dig deep to win