Donny van de Beek knows Manchester United can ill-afford any let up with Champions League progress still to be sealed and an important Premier League match looming large.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side followed up Saturday evening’s underwhelming Old Trafford win against promoted West Brom with a more convincing home performance against Istanbul Basaksehir.
Bruno Fernandes’ brace was complemented by Marcus Rashford’s penalty and a late Daniel James strike in a 4-1 win against the Turkish champions, meaning United need just a point from their remaining two Group H matches to qualify for the last 16.
But Van de Beek, like his manager, is not taking progress for granted with Paris St Germain coming to town next week and knows for all the positives on Tuesday that there remains work to do.
“Some games I play no.10 and sometimes the coach needs me in the control position. That’s fine for me. Before, in Ajax, I was also playing in that position, so that’s OK.”
United have some injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s return to Premier League action on the south coast.
Paul Pogba has missed both matches since the end of the international break due to an ankle complaint, while Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were brought off against Basaksehir.
“(Pogba’s) ankle was swollen up,” Solskjaer said “He trained yesterday but didn’t feel right and this morning was confirmation he couldn’t play.”
On Lindelof and Wan-Bissaka, the United boss said: “Hopefully they’ll be ready for the weekend but we’re not sure.
“It’s back problems for Victor and he had an ankle problem, Aaron, so there was no point taking any more chances and risking more swelling to it.”
