Ibrahimovic: I Must Do More

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was honest in his assessment of Manchester United's 1-1 draw against Anderlecht, admitting he "wasn't feeling good" during Thursday's Europa League quarter-final first leg in Brussels.

The Reds have the upper hand in the tie following Henrikh Mkhitaryan's well-taken, first-half effort, but were left frustrated after conceding an equaliser four minutes from time at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. With the next assignment following on Sunday against Chelsea, the striker is fully aware it is a taxing schedule.

Speaking in Belgium, Ibrahimovic was asked whether he and United's other attacking players could have done more to put the result beyond doubt. “I think the manager is right on this matter," he told reporters. "Today, I wasn’t feeling good. I was feeling tired but it’s not an excuse. 

"I still have to do much more, and do much better than I did today. I speak for myself, and today was not a good performance. We have one month to go and we play many games. We’re still grinding, we’re still pushing, because we have the Europa League and the end of the Premier League. We’ll fight for it."

Attention now turns to Sunday's crucial Premier League clash against Chelsea, and Ibrahimovic insists he isn't thinking about the Reds' unbeaten record in the competition, which currently stands at 21 games. 

“I think it’s nothing we should focus on," the Swede added. "I would prefer to be first in the league and not have this record. It doesn’t give us anything, this record.

“I think Chelsea are a good team. Overall, a good team. Then, of course, they are playing once a week and that makes a difference. I don’t know how many games we’ve had in total, but I think we’ve had much more than them.

"They haven’t been playing in Europe this season and they went out of the League Cup early on. They have a good team, otherwise they wouldn’t be number one [top of the league]."

Ibrahimovic has been involved in 18 goals in his last 17 Premier League appearances (13 goals, five assists).