Raphael Varane insisted Manchester had the “quality” to go all the way in the Champions League, despite a disastrous start to the season.
Erik ten Hag’s team lost their first match of the season against Bayern Munich in Group A. The Red Devils enter this European competition after a 1-0 home defeat against Crystal Palace, which leaves them at the 10th place in the Premier League table after seven days. Varane acknowledges that the Mancuniens must improve quickly, but he does not see why they could not win the Champions League given the “quality” of the team.
When asked if United were capable of emulating his former club Real Madrid in Europe’s elite competition, Varane gushed in a press conference: “Yes, I think so, I think the quality is in the team. The competition is difficult, you have to pay attention to every detail, but we have a quality team with a good mentality. We need to make some improvements, the start of the season hasn’t been what we expected, but I still believe we have the quality to compete with the best teams in the world“.
The World Cup winner added: “ I think that competition is decided on details and that you have to be efficient to win the competition. In the final moments, we must be more effective. We concede few goals and we have to create a lot to score. This is the reality of the high level, you have to be efficient to win trophies. We have the necessary quality in the team to win competitions. We must move forward and improve.
United’s defeat against Palace confirmed their worst start to a Premier League season since 1989, with just nine points collected from their first seven matches.
Ten Hag’s cause has not been helped by an injury crisis across defensive positions, with Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Sergio Reguilon all unavailable at the moment.
