Herrera: We Have To Be United

Ander Herrera says Manchester United's UEFA Europa League triumph was about more than just football, and has joined team-mates including Juan Mata in dedicating the victory to the victims of the terror attacks in Manchester.

On an emotional night at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, the minute's silence held before kick-off quickly turned to applause, with chants of 'Manchester, Manchester, Manchester' raining down from the stands. On the pitch, Jose Mourinho's men eventually ran out 2-0 winners, courtesy of goals from Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in either half.

Herrera was named UEFA's Man of the Match for his display and, speaking in a post-match press conference, the midfielder used the platform to deliver a personal tribute to those affected by Monday's awful events and call for "peace in the world".

“We are very happy," he told reporters. "You don’t win a European trophy every day – I lost in the Europa League final five years ago [with Athletic Bilbao].

"I’m very happy but I want to dedicate the trophy to the victims. This is just football but what happened the other day was horrible. We want peace in the world.

"We are just footballers but we have an audience and I just want to say we should work together for a normal world. This happened in Manchester but everywhere you have to be united to fight for peace and respect. No more attacks and no more deaths, please.

"Yesterday [Tuesday] morning we were devastated. We were really sad because when you think about life and football, you have no voice. It was difficult to train but the manager told us the only thing we could do was to win it for them, and that’s what we’ve done. It’s just a football game, just a trophy, but if we can support them [the people who were affected] with this just one per cent, it’s enough for us."

The Spaniard was also asked about the Stockholm victory in the context of the Reds' season, saying: "The motivation when you put on the United shirt is big; the obligation is also big because we are the greatest club in England and one of the greatest in the world. We know we could have done better in the Premier League, so to finish with three titles is fantastic.

"It was the game of the season because we couldn’t talk about a good season if we didn’t win it. We can now talk about a great season because we have three trophies and are in the Champions League next season."