Diogo Dalot has explained the mood in the Manchester United dressing room was 'calm' ahead of Sunday's match with Nottingham Forest despite the side's growing injury crisis.
United made good ground in the race for a top-four place as they took advantage of losses for Tottenham and Newcastle by defeating relegation strugglers Forest 2-0 at the City Ground. Antony got the opener in the first half before Dalot secured the points late on.
It was a win made even more impressive by the fact United were without 10 players for the game. Lisandro Martinez was ruled out for the season after he snapped his achilles against Sevilla on Thursday and he joined the likes of Marcus Rashford, Raphael Varane and Alejandro Garnacho on the sidelines.
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That injury list grew even further on Sunday as Tyrell Malacia didn't make the trip to Nottingham due to a sore knee and then Marcel Sabitzer pulled out of the starting XI with a groin problem suffered in the warm-up. Despite all the turmoil, Dalot says United remained cool before the match.
"Inside the dressing room I think we were calm," the full-back told Sky Sports. "We knew through the season that we are not only just 11 players. We've shown this in the past this season.
"Today was one more game. Players get injured, this is football but everybody was ready and today I think we showed that we're a proper squad."
Dalot grabbed the second goal as he latched on to Antony's clever through ball and slammed the ball past Keylor Navas. It was the Portuguese's first Premier League goal and he was delighted to break his duck.
"It was special," he explained. "The moment the goal was important as well, with 2-0 we were a little bit more comfortable in the game. They were creating some chances, especially from corners and Premier League is always dangerous when you're only 1-0 up so the moment was good. It’s always special to score for this club, and more happy with the result."
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