‘We have to be better. They had more willingness to win... That is unacceptable at Manchester United'

Erik ten Hag sat down, opened a bottle of water and adjusted his microphone.

Then he began: "We weren't good enough tonight. That was obvious and we didn't have the standards that you expect from Manchester United. We have to face that we let ourselves down and we let the fans down.

"If you want to win trophies, if you want to be successful, you need character. We have to be better. It's not about playing skills. It’s about character, to be composed, to have desire and passion. Sevilla had more willingness to win, and that can't be. I think it's unacceptable."

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He continued: "We lost the battles. Sevilla had more passion, more desire, more willingness, and that's difficult to win games. The players have to perform. I believe in them and trust them, but they have to show it and they were not good enough.

"We have shown on so many occasions good things but tonight we weren't ready for the game. This was a great opportunity, a great occasion, to win something and we gave it away. We have to blame ourselves."

United had just crashed out of the Europa League quarter-finals after a spectacular 3-0 defeat against Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium and his press conference lasted just under six minutes.

Sevilla's 2-2 draw at Old Trafford after scoring two goals in the final minutes was a disaster, but the performance from United in the reverse fixture in Spain was catastrophic.

An amateurish mix-up between David de Gea and Harry Maguire gave Sevilla the lead within seven minutes in that game and they almost scored again in the 41st minute when VAR ruled out Lucas Ocampos' goal due to offside.

The Ramon