Man Utd Trophy Drought Has Gone on Too Long, Says Dejected de Gea

David de Gea. (AP)
David de Gea. (AP)
TT
20

Man Utd Trophy Drought Has Gone on Too Long, Says Dejected de Gea

David de Gea. (AP)
David de Gea. (AP)

Manchester United have gone too many years without trophies and need a more determined collective effort to end their drought, goalkeeper David de Gea said after they crashed out of the Champions League following a defeat by Atletico Madrid.

A first-half header from Renan Lodi gave Atletico a 1-0 win on Tuesday for a 2-1 aggregate last-16 victory that extinguished United's hopes of a title this season and extended their trophy drought to five years.

"Of course it's not good enough," De Gea, who was part of the United squad that won the Europa League crown in 2017, said. "There are too many years without any trophies, even without fighting for trophies.

"We need to be clear we want to achieve good things and fight for trophies. We don't just want to play for the top four and get out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals.

"So we need much more from everyone because this club is too big for where we are now. We are far from the fighting places for the Premier League, for the Champions League, so we need much more from everyone."

United are fifth in the Premier League with 50 points from 29 games and face a daunting task to make the top four and earn a place in next year's Champions League.

"This is where we are at the moment. It's a difficult situation. We have to keep fighting. I feel very sad. But we were not good enough," De Gea said of the Atletico result.

"We are really disappointed with the result. It's difficult to put into words how we feel at the moment. We did not enough in both games to win it. It's a disappointing day for us."



Bayern Munich Advances in Club World Cup with 2-1 Win over Boca Juniors

Football - FIFA Club World Cup - Group C - Bayern Munich v Boca Juniors - Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, US - June 20, 2025 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)
Football - FIFA Club World Cup - Group C - Bayern Munich v Boca Juniors - Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, US - June 20, 2025 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)
TT
20

Bayern Munich Advances in Club World Cup with 2-1 Win over Boca Juniors

Football - FIFA Club World Cup - Group C - Bayern Munich v Boca Juniors - Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, US - June 20, 2025 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)
Football - FIFA Club World Cup - Group C - Bayern Munich v Boca Juniors - Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, US - June 20, 2025 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane celebrates scoring their first goal. (Reuters)

Michael Olise fired Bayern Munich into the knockout stages of the Club World Cup, scoring in the 84th minute for a 2-1 win over Boca Juniors on Friday night.

German champion Bayern made it two wins in Group C and advanced to the round of 16 with a game to spare.

Olise secured the victory at Hard Rock Stadium after Miguel Merentiel had put Boca in position for a draw with a brilliant solo goal in the 66th.

Bayern, which tops the group, took the lead on Harry Kane's clinical finish in the 18th and went on to miss of a slew of chances before Merentiel's equalizer.

South American teams had been unbeaten in their first nine games of this expanded Club World Cup.

Bayern looked like it would be held until Olise's cool finish. Collecting Kane's layoff inside the box, the forward curled a powerful first-time effort low into the bottom corner.

Bayern has the luxury of resting players for its final group game against second-place Benfica on Tuesday, which could be bad news for Boca. Argentine giant Boca, which plays Auckland City, needs Bayern to beat Benfica to have any chance of advancing to the next round.

“We knew it wasn't going to be easy, we knew we were coming into a hostile environment, hot weather, it was tough. It's a massive tournament. We are playing against the best teams in the world. We just have to compete to our highest level and we should be able to beat most teams,” said Kane.

“We have to find a way (to advance). A draw would’ve been great but it’s up to us to compete and do our best and I would not be surprised if that happened,” said Boca Juniors coach Miguel Angel Russo.