Louis van Gaal says every Manchester United fan deserves to enjoy the derby victory over City, insisting he is delighted the supporters can “walk through the streets without being embarrassed.”
The Reds boss hailed the Old Trafford faithful for their unbroken backing through his first season in charge, citing the great support given to the team in both the good times and bad.
Over 75,000 fans inside the stadium witnessed a superb come-from-behind victory over the Blues and van Gaal was in buoyant mood when he spoke exclusively to MUTV after the win.
“We have showed that [strength of character] often,” he said, after being asked about United’s powers of recovery, having gone behind to an early goal from Sergio Aguero. “I have more than once given compliments to my players about that because, in all the matches, we are going until the end with a great spirit and we have shown that against City.
“I am very pleased for the fans of course, because they have supported us when the results were not so good and now they are very good. I’m very happy for the fans that they can walk through the streets without being embarrassed! They can go on the streets, hat up, and they can say now ‘we are, this year, the better team’ because goal difference is in our favour.”
Van Gaal took time to praise Sky Sports’ Man of the Match, Ashley Young, after he netted the equaliser and set up two of United’s other three goals, and had a special mention for another goalscorer in Marouane Fellaini.
“Ashley was Man of the Match and I think that was right. If I had to choose, I would have chosen him,” he revealed. “Also Fellaini is very important in our game-plan and I’m very pleased that he plays for Manchester United and no-one else.
“At Liverpool, it was about the first half but we didn’t start so well, Manchester City had the better start,” added van Gaal as he continued his assessment of the match. “But then we came back into the game because of the assist of David De Gea, more or less, for the first goal for Ashley Young. Then we gained confidence and we performed our game-plan much more. In the second half, we played very well with a lot of pace in our game. I was very pleased with the second half.”
