Harry Maguire has urged his Manchester United teammates to 'stick together' following their elimination from the Champions League on Tuesday.
United's hopes of ending the season with silverware were fully extinguished by Atletico Madrid at Old Trafford, who won 1-0 on the night through Renan Lodi's header to advance to the quarter-finals. United started brightly in the match but were unable to break down their opponents after going behind and instead only began to grow frustrated as the reigning Spanish champions expertly saw out the game.
It was the latest in a long line of disappointing nights for United - who mustered only one shot on target in the second half - that has left them with just one aim left in the season: to finish in the top four. However, doing so will be difficult as they already trail in-form Arsenal who have three games in hand.
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Captain Maguire has issued a rallying cry to his teammates to do all they can to qualify for next year's edition of Europe's top tournament. "Of course it's going to be a disappointing couple of weeks now," he told PA Sport.
"The lads need to go, have a rest but make sure that we come back fighting for the end of the season. We've got nine important Premier League games that we need to try to win every game that we play in, stick together.
"My job as captain obviously has a big role in that as well and making sure that we stick together and we finish the season strong - because we owe it to the fans."
Maguire was also asked about Atleti's tactics in the match as they played all the old tricks to waste time, disrupt the flow of the game, frustrate United and ultimately win the tie. “I think the style in Europe, it's not for me to really comment on," he added.
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"But yeah, I think every time you touch someone it's a foul. I think - as a team - we've maybe got learn from it, got to grow from it and don't lose our discipline.”
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