Christian Eriksen is under no illusions about the importance of Man Utd's meeting with Real Sociedad this week
Christian Eriksen has admitted Thursday's make-or-break Europa League tie is “massive” for Manchester United's future.
United's season hangs on the last 16 second leg tie against Real Sociedad at Old Trafford, following a 1-1 draw in last week's first leg in northern Spain.
With Ruben Amorim's side languishing in 14 th place in the Premier League and out of both domestic cups, the Europa League represents their last shot a glory in a crisis-hit season.
United must win the Europa League to ensure European football next season, with Eriksen acknowledging the importance of going through to keep their season alive, as well as the huge financial boost Champions League football would bring.
“It’s massive,” said Eriksen. “We know the pressure, we know the situation we are in. To get into Europe next season, we have to go through the Europa League, so we know there’s a lot of pressure on that game.
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“But it also comes with being at this club. You play for trophies, so we have to play well to go through. It [Europe] is where we belong, but we don’t belong in the lower half of the Premier League either, so it’s a bit in between.
“We'll try to do our best to get up the league, because we’re not in a position we want to be in. In terms of the Premier League, we still not to get a lot of points to go higher. It's not fun [looking at the table].
“We want to be higher. We’re at Manchester United, so we have to be higher. But in the end, the ball is still rolling on the pitch, so we have to just focus on the football.
“Hopefully at the end of the season, when we look at the table, we end up higher and we’ll forget about this. But at the moment, we have to fight for it.”
United drew the first leg with Real Sociedad 1-1 in Spain ( Image: PA)
If United play on Thursday the way they did in the second-half of Sunday's 1-1 draw against Arsenal, Amorim's side should overcome Sociedad to progress to the quarter-finals.
After an insipid first-half, United played with greater intensity and attacking purpose, creating at leat four chances, with only the brilliance of David Raya thwarting them.
“The goal helped us before half-time to get a bit more belief and trust ourselves,” said Eriksen. “In the second-half, with the chances we had, we should have been 2-0 up.
Bruno Fernandes put United in front against Arsenal, but both sides had to settle for a point ( Image: Getty Images)
“We created chances and we got in good positions. In the second-half we had a bit more of the ball and held on to the ball a bit longer than we did in the first-half.
“The manager has come in with new ideas. He's a very honest guy, straightforward and we’re just trying to adapt and get into the system and the habits in his style of play. He’s a good manager.
“With a bit more belief like we had in the second-half, we could create chances, commit more people offensively and then we got a few chances.”
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