De Gea: We’re confident and ready for the fight

David De Gea is embarking on his sixth Champions League campaign with Manchester United and he's as determined as ever to succeed in the competition, as he told MUTV in Switzerland on Tuesday....

The Champions League is back – how much are you looking forward to it?
For me and for anyone who loves football, the Champions League is one of the best competitions in Europe – and the best, for me. We’ve won two games in a row – two tough away games – so we are confident. We know it will be difficult here because they are a good team, so we need to be ready for the fight.

You'll be playing on an artificial pitch – will that be different for you as a goalkeeper?
Sure, it will be different to playing on a normal pitch, but we need to play football, we need to try to play well and win the game. We're not used to playing on artificial grass so it's going to be a bit different – probably more difficult for us. We’ll try to play our football, we know it's going to be a tough game but we need to play our best football to win.

United are in a tough group, so how important is it to get off to a good start?
Especially in this competition, the first game is always very important to win. They are not an easy team to face. They won the Swiss league, so we need to play good football, be focused and win.

What is your assessment of our opponents, Young Boys?
Maybe people think it is going to be easy, but we definitely don’t. We watched some videos of them and they are a good team. They are playing at home, with their fans, so it will be a tough game.

Just how hard is it to play away from home in the Champions League?
In the Premier League and in the Champions League, away from home is always difficult. Teams are really good and everything is a challenge. Like I say, it is going to be difficult.

Are the players determined to do well after the disappointment of Sevilla last season?
Of course, we will try to go further than last season. This is a special competition and it is special for Manchester United. We are United and we always want to win. It is difficult against the best teams in Europe but we will fight for it.