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Man Utd news: Liverpool is no excuse for Valencia performance - Owen Hargreaves
MANCHESTER UNITED facing Liverpool this weekend is no excuse for the poor performance against Valencia on Tuesday.
That is according to former Manchester United and England midfielder Owen Hargreaves.
Jose Mourinho’s side went down 2-1 at Valencia, meaning they only finished second in Group H.
With Juventus suffering a shock 2-1 loss at Young Boys, a victory would have been enough for United to go through to the last 16 a group winners.
But now they potentially face the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid in the first knockout stage.
I thought the performance was poor virtually in every phase
United visit Anfield on Sunday to face Premier League leaders and unbeaten Liverpool.
Hargreaves was asked by BT Sport presenter Lynsey Hipgrave: “Is it an excuse that they’ve already qualified Owen and they’ve got Liverpool on Sunday?”
But the pundit says it wasn’t an excuse and it was another poor evening for his old side.
“No, I don’t think it is,” he responded.
“I thought the performance was poor virtually in every phase.
“I thought (Marcus) Rashford and (Jesse) Lingard came on and had a big impact on the game.
“But in terms of defensively, they struggled against a Valencia team that is the lowest scorers in La Liga - only 12 in 15 games.
“They probably could have had two or three in that first half.
“United never looked like scoring, I don’t think they had a shot on target until the start of the second half.
“Obviously the big miss from (Paul) Pogba, the own goal from Phil Jones, (Romelu) Lukaku’s form again tonight was an issue.
“It wasn’t a good night for Manchester United.”