Captain Harry Maguire insists his bit-part role in Manchester United’s Wembley triumph did not diminish his pride at lifting the Carabao Cup.
The 29-year-old has also challenged his team-mates to keep on pushing for an extraordinary quadruple after ending their six-year wait for a trophy in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Newcastle.
Maguire came on as an 88th-minute substitute for Marcus Rashford but still feels like a big part of United’s success despite having made just nine starts in all competitions since Erik ten Hag became manager last summer.
‘I don’t have any mixed emotions,’ said the defender, who signed for £80million from Leicester in 2019. ‘It’s been so long for this club without winning trophies.
‘I’m club captain and my main job is to move this club forward and to bring success back to the club.
‘I’m a footballer who wants to play games and I want to lead the boys out in the tunnel at the start of the game, of course. But also I understand football, this is part and parcel of football when you play at the top level and you’ve got a huge competition for places.’
On his limited opportunities under Ten Hag, the defender said: ‘This is Manchester United, we want to win trophies and win big trophies, and to do that you need a big competition for places.
‘The manager speaks to me daily, he really respects me and he believes that I’m a top centre-half with all the attributes to play in his team, but also he understands and I understand that the players who are playing are playing really well.’
Meanwhile, United host West Ham in the FA Cup fifth round tomorrow and Maguire is confident they can add further silverware this season.
‘Especially since coming back from the World Cup, we’ve started to play really well,’ he added.
‘Before the World Cup, we had great fight and great spirit, but didn’t really put the actions of what the manager wanted.
‘We’re in four competitions, three now because we’ve won one. Obviously it’s going to be tough to win all four but while we’re in them, we go into every game trying to win it, starting again on Wednesday.’
Source: metro.co.uk
