TOURNAMENT – Champions League

MATCH – Olympiakos (Home) at Old Trafford

DATE & TIME – 19th March 2014, 19:45 GMT (01:15 IST, 20th March 2014)

RESULT – Man Utd 3 – 0 Olympiakos (van Persie (pen) 25′, van Persie 46′, van Persie 52′)

Post-Match Press Conference Transcript of David Moyes

Q. David, first of all, congratulations. What a night that was, wasn’t it?

Moyes: What a night, and you know, we – the supporters deserved the night. And, to be honest, we needed a night – the management staff, the players – we needed it as well. But we had to perform, and thankfully we did that tonight.

Q. Clearly, it was an all-round team performance, but are there players that you would particularly pick out from that tonight?

Moyes: Of course there were. But, you know, it would be wrong for me just to mention Robin’s three goals or Ryan Giggs’ play and his assists, Wayne’s play. But I just thought Danny Welbeck was terrific, there was all-round performances. And David de Gea, we needed him to make saves which were really important in the game. We were always going to have to take some risks to try and score and attack, which was always meaning that we could be a bit vulnerable at the back. But we did that, and we hope- thankfully, I should say, we got through; we did it.

Q. You had a 40-year old defying all logic again there in the centre of midfield.

Moyes: I just say that he is a freak of nature, I think that he can do it. And it wasn’t as if I thought he was tiring after 60 minutes today, and he’s not played for a month or two. He’s just a really really good football player as everybody at this football club’s aware of and, his performance tonight was up there with as well as he’s played in my time that I’ve been here.

Q. Great to see Robin getting a hat-trick, but worrying to see him getting stretchered off at the end. What’s the situation with him?

Moyes: It looks as if he’s just got a knock in the back of his knee. We don’t think its too bad so, hopefully, that’s good news and he’s fine. But, great credit to score a hat-trick in the Champions League. I think special players do that, and he certainly is a special player.

Q. And the partnership that has been criticized sometimes – that of Wayne and Robin – it was there for all to see tonight.

Moyes: Yeah, it was. And we tried to link it a little bit with Danny Welbeck and Robin at times. We wanted to do where Wayne dropped a bit deeper and joined Robin as well. So, we found a way of getting the result and it was a big thing. But, we should have never put ourselves in the situation of being 2-0 down after the first leg but when we did, we needed a big night and a big effort and, as I said, after Sunday’s performance, it is a big thank you to the supporters for the part they played in getting us that result tonight.

Q. Well has that answered a few questions from the weekend? A lot of people were looking at this tonight, and there was their answer, I suppose.

Moyes: Yeah, I mean, what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to do it more often. We know we’re not playing as well as we should be, we know we’ve got to get better and I believe, given a little bit of time and given the chance to adjust to things, we can do that. I thought the big thing tonight was the players’ attitude, you know, mentally they were really focused. I’m sure from the first minute everyone saw their attitude – I think Danny Welbeck made a tackle in the first five or ten seconds and it sort of set the tone for the game a little bit.

Q. Fine, any thoughts on the draw, or are you just, at the moment, are we just happy that we’re in there at the moment?

Moyes: (laughing) No, I’ve got a couple of teams who I think I might prefer than a couple of others, but, I think this football club is capable, I really do. I think this football club has got history in the competition – it knows what to do when its there. Its not a shock that we’re in the last eight, its something which we do regularly. So, hopefully we’re going to try and get into the last 4, that’s the big thing now.

Q. Congratulations, David.

Moyes: Thank you, thanks.

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