The 32-year-old midfielder believes his side can put pressure on the Reds and Manchester City in the race for the English crown next term
Nemanja Matic is determined to claim Premier League title glory with Manchester United and says he and his team-mates “cannot allow” Liverpool to win the league with seven games to spare, as they did in 2019-20.
United have been unable to mount a proper challenge for the English top-flight crown since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge in 2013.
The Red Devils were fifth in the table before they embarked on a 14-game unbeaten run to climb to a third-place finish, beating Leicester City on the final day to secure their spot in the Champions League.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team did, however, finish 15 points behind rivals City and a further 18 adrift of champions Liverpool, but midfielder Matic believes they should be aiming to put pressure on the top two in the 2020-21 campaign.
“Me, personally, I would like to win the Premier League with Manchester United. I think that our club always needs to fight for the title,” the 32-year-old said in an interview with the club’s magazine, Inside United .
“We always need to try to do the best for this club, which we are doing at the moment, and I think we cannot allow any club to win the league seven or 10 games before the season finishes. So we have to fight until the end.
“Of course, we have a young team, but this cannot be an excuse. I think these young players already have a few seasons behind them playing. So, from the next season, we have to fight for the title. I don’t know if we’re going to win [it] but I’m sure that we can fight until the end.
“That’s my personal target and I think the rest of my team-mates think the same.”
While United’s domestic campaign is over, they will return to Europa League duty next week when they take on LASK in the second leg of their last-16 tie.
United won 5-0 in the first leg in Austria, with Odion Ighalo, Daniel James, Juan Mata, Mason Greenwood and Andreas Pereira all finding the net.
Awaiting the English club in the quarter-finals will be either İstanbul Basaksehir or Copenhagen. The Turkish side are 1-0 up from the first leg of their tie.
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