'Really important' - Ruben Amorim fires clear Europa League warning to Manchester United squad
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has highlighted the importance of his team securing automatic qualification for the last-16 of the Europa League ahead of tonight's clash with Rangers at Old Trafford.
United head into their penultimate Europa League league phase outing sitting seventh in the table, one place and one point ahead of this evening's opponent. The top eight will automatically progress to the round-of-16.
However, those who finish between ninth and 24th must navigate their way through the play-off round in February to try and reach the first knockout stage of the competition, meaning two extra fixtures.
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Amorim has repeatedly banged the drum about the importance of him and his players getting as much time on the training ground as possible in recent weeks as he continues to get his ideas across, meaning the last thing he wants is another two games added to what is already a stacked schedule.
On the importance of getting a positive result, Amorim told MUTV: "They [the fans] want us to win games, especially at home in the different competitions.
"We need to win it because it is really important for the classification to try and avoid two games in the play-offs to have more time to train, so everything is important in this moment. We want to win."
Stressing the importance of avoiding the play-off round to secure more time at Carrington, Amorim added: "It's really important, especially in the schedule like we have here in the Premier League with a lot of games. We can have [a] clean two weeks to work (without the play-off round), so it's really important."
Three points for United this evening would guarantee them a spot in the play-off round ahead of next Thursday night's concluding league phase fixture against FCSB in Romania. A victory, depending on results elsewhere, could also all but seal a top eight spot and an automatic route to the last-16.
