Champions League: United capable of Euro glory, insists Moyes
MANCHESTER UNITED 3 OLYMPIACOS 0
(Manchester United win 3-2 on aggregate)
MANCHESTER United can win the Champions League, according to manager David Moyes after his team gave the suffering Old Trafford crowd a night to savour by storming through to the quarter-finals.
Trailing 2-0 from a disastrous first leg in Greece, striker Robin van Persie bagged the first Champions League hat-trick of his career and David de Gea performed heroics in the United goal to ensure their progress.
United have endured an unfamiliarly difficult season having slumped to seventh in the Premier League and suffered embarrassing exits in both domestic cups.
Yet Moyes believes his team are capable of winning the Champions League for the fourth time in their history.
“We will probably go into the quarter-final tie as underdogs, but I don’t see why not [win the Champions League],” he said. “This football club is capable of it. If we play to our capabilities, which we’ve not shown that often this season, I think we can be a match for any team.
“This club has history in the competition. It knows what to do at this stage. We’re not shocked to be in the quarter-finals, it’s something we do regularly. We will try to get into the last four now.”
Olympiacos showed no signs of sitting deep to protect their first-leg lead in a pulsating end-to-end start.
Hernan Perez spooned an effort over the crossbar shortly before Wayne Rooney’s header hit the post.
But on 24 minutes Van Persie made the breakthrough, dusting himself down to power in a penalty after being barged over by Jose Holebas.
De Gea then made an outstanding double save, blocking David Fuster’s header before scrambling across his line to keep out Alejandro Dominguez’s follow-up.
Moments before half-time United doubled their advantage when the evergreen Ryan Giggs launched a long pass forwards to Rooney, who crossed low for Van Persie to fire in.
On 51 minutes United took the lead in the tie for the first time when Van Persie curled a free-kick past Roberto, left flat-footed on his line.
Delvin Ndinga and Dominguez both saw chances blocked by De Gea late on. But the sole blight on an otherwise perfect night for United was Van Persie being forced to leave the field on a stretcher prematurely after appearing to jar his knee.
QUARTER-FINALISTS
Atletico Madrid
Barcelona
Bayern Munich
Borussia Dortmund
Chelsea
Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain
Real Madrid