Ole Gunnar Solskjaer underlined the need to strengthen his Man Utd squad after their heartbreaking Europa League semi-final loss to Sevilla.
An evening that started with Bruno Fernandes opening the scoring from the spot ended in disappointment in Cologne, where ex-Liverpool man Suso equalised midway through the first half.
Solskjaer’s side made a blistering start to the second period but a mixture of poor finishing and Yassine Bounou’s superb performance between the sticks set Sevilla up for a famous 2-1 semi-final win sealed by Newcastle flop Luuk de Jong.
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United became the first English top-flight team to lose in the semi-final of three competitions in the same season, leaving Solskjaer understandably crestfallen to have fallen at the same hurdle as in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
“It’s very disappointing,” the Norwegian said.
“We’re not devastated but it’s one of those hard ones to take because you feel you’ve played some fantastic stuff at times, created chances and just couldn’t get the goals that I felt we deserved at times.
“In different spells of the game I thought we were absolutely excellent.”
There is precious little time for Man Utd to nurse their wounds, rest and prepare for the new campaign given the coronavirus-impacted schedule.
Solskjaer’s side will be back in Premier League action next month and improvements are needed if they are to go from third place to a title challenge.
“It’s not about marquee, it’s about quality,” Solskjaer when asked about the possbility of a ‘marquee signing’ this summer. “It’s about quality and the right personalities. We might look at it today and see where we need to improve it.”
When asked what was needed, Solskjaer added: “Keep improving, keep doing what they’ve done every single day.
“They worked so hard, right attitude, mentality.
“We need to strengthen the squad depth, of course, because it’s going to be a long season. It’s only going to be a couple weeks rest until we get going again.
“Dust this down, make sure that we’re ready and fresh to go.
“Many, many different things but keep on improving what we’re doing day in and day out and believe in what we’re doing.
“You can see at times today what we can be about and what we are about.”
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