Manchester United midfielder, Bruno Fernandes, has said their season cannot be judged as a success even if they win a domestic cup double.
The Red Devils secured a top-four finish ahead of Liverpool by beating Chelsea 4-1 on Thursday night. Manager Erik ten Hag has already won the Carabao Cup in his first season at Old Trafford and he can add the FA Cup if United beat Manchester City at Wembley a week on Saturday.
But it’s a decade since United won the Premier League title, and they have also failed to reach the Champions League semi-finals in that time. Although Fernandes says it has been a ‘positive’ season, he believes a club of United’s stature has to aim higher.
‘We’re really happy to be in the Champions League next season but, obviously, it’s kind of an obligation for this club to be in these positions,’ he said. ‘After we couldn’t fight for the league title anymore, we had to fight for our top four and we did it.
‘But, as players we are not happy just to get the top four. We want more. We aim for more because we believe in this team there is enough qualities to go forward.
‘It’s a positive season – not successful because successful is different for this club and for us players it has to be too. We did win a trophy. We get into the top four.
‘Now we have another final but whatever happened in that final will not change anything about the season we have done. One game can’t define a season that has been long with so many games.
‘We’ve been doing really well and we had our moments that we could have done better, obviously, because if not we would be in a better position than we are actually.
‘But still we went to win the Carabao Cup, we’re in the final of FA Cup, in the Europa League could have been better, but it is what it is. Now, we have the chance to finish in the best way at home against Fulham and after we have time to think about City.’