Carrick Braced For Battle

Michael Carrick admits United face 'a big challenge' if they are to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League, after suffering a convincing defeat against Athletic Club at Old Trafford.

The Reds travel to Bilbao next week needing to win by two clear goals or score more than three times in a single-goal victory to overturn the lead built by Marcelo Bielsa's side.

"It was always going to be a tough second leg," the midfielder told MUTV. "The tie was never going to be dead tonight, we knew that.

"It's obviously disappointing to lose the game first and foremost. Going forward I thought we looked quite dangerous at times, but they had a lot of chances and that's not like us. We're not happy with that at all.

"We were well aware of how good they are and the threats they have. We just didn't do well enough at times. At times in the game we did well enough and we looked a threat, but our overall performance wasn't quite good enough.

"It's a two-legged affair and we were always going to have to perform over there, but it's going to be a big test for us. But we've done it before; our away form is good and we'll look to that next week. We'll be up for it."

While he made no excuse for the Reds' reverse, Carrick did admit that he was left befuddled by the visitors' third goal, scored after play had been stopped because Patrice Evra's boot had fallen off.

"Their (third) goal was a strange one," he said. "The referee had told us they were kicking it back to us, so we stopped and they scored. Then obviously we got the penalty straight back, but theirs counts for a little bit more, being the away goal."

United go straight back into Barclays Premier League action on Sunday for the visit of West Brom, and Carrick is confident that Athletic's victory will be quickly brushed off as the Reds resume their chase for the title.

"We'll be ready for Sunday," he said. "There'll be no carry-over from this. We'll regroup tomorrow, gather ourselves again and we'll go again. It's a disappointment, but we'll move on."