Rasmus Højlund desperate to ‘show myself’ at best possible degree with Manchester United

Rasmus Højlund is decided to end up himself “on the biggest stage” with Manchester United, even supposing the centre-forward admits his 21-match scoring drought previous within the season was once a take a look at of persona.

Højlund’s objective in Thursday’s 4-1 defeat of Athletic Bilbao was once simplest his 10th in 48 video games, a go back that has triggered some complaint. But the 22-year-old Dane is obvious he can flip his shape round. “I know what this football club is all about,” Højlund mentioned. “It’s a lot of pressure, but that’s why I’m here. I want to show myself on the biggest stage.”

Despite scoring two times in his previous 3 video games, they had been his first objectives for the reason that 3-0 victory at Leicester on 16 March, which ended the 21-game barren run.

“There’s been hard times,” mentioned Højlund. “When I go without a goal in a lot of games, I wouldn’t say I lose self-belief, but you’re going to be a bit more down and a bit more frustrated. But then it’s about going back to the basics – focus on what I can and try to improve myself, try to talk with my teammates [about] getting [into] better positions, these sort of things.

“But when you ride a rough spell, when you come out the other end – that absolutely makes you better.”

Højlund is fascinated about United’s Europa League ultimate in opposition to Tottenham at Bilbao’s San Mamés Stadium on 21 May. “It’s good – I’m very happy with being in the final,” he mentioned. “We play to win trophies and we are in a good position now to go and win a European trophy. It can give us something next year and the trophy is always very important, especially for such a big club.”

United take a seat 15th within the Premier League heading right into a weekend they usually may finally end up immediately above the relegation zone must 17th-placed West Ham win at Old Trafford on Sunday and Spurs keep away from defeat by way of Crystal Palace. Ruben Amorim made 8 adjustments for remaining Sunday’s 4-3 loss at Brentford however the head trainer rebuffed ideas that he would leisure key gamers akin to Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire earlier than the general.

“No, they will play because sometimes it’s better to play,” he mentioned. “What I will protect is the players that can get an injury. For example, Bruno, or the last game before Tottenham, but we moved the game to Friday, Chelsea, so we will have time to recover. We want to be competitive also in the Premier League.”