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Heaven urges Man Utd to maintain European faith / Photo: Oli SCARFF - AFP
NYSE - LSE
Heaven urges Man Utd to maintain European faith
Ayden Heaven believes a return to European football is well within Manchester United's reach following Monday's 4-1 win at Wolves.
Victory at Molineux left Ruben Amorim's men just a point outside of the top four in the Premier League and in the hunt for a place in next season's Champions League.
United recovered from a disappointing draw with lowly West Ham last week thanks to Bruno Fernandes' double and further goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Mason Mount after Jean-Ricner Bellegarde had cancelled out Fernandes' opener with bottom-of-the-table Wolves' first goal in the Premier League since October 26.
United ended the 2024/25 season in 15th place -- their lowest top-flight finish in 51 years -- and missed out on European qualification by losing the Europa League final to English rivals Tottenham.
But a lack of continental football could yet help the fallen giants rebuild under Portuguese manager Amorim, with teenage United defender Heaven saying: "We dropped points in the last game (at home to West Ham) and this was the chance to go and redeem ourselves and get more points. I feel like we did that, especially in the second half.
"We knew it wasn't good enough that we conceded. He (Amorim) just told us (at half-time) to do what we can do and we did that as you saw."
United's surprise 1-0 loss to 10-man Everton at Old Trafford is the lone defeat in their last nine games, with a buoyant Heaven insisting after the Wolves match: "I don't think anyone can stop us when we play like this."
The 19-year-old, asked about the prospect of European football, added: "Hopefully we can be in Europe next season, which I think we'll do.
"Of course, that's where Manchester United belong."
Heaven was speaking after making a second successive start for United after fellow centre-backs Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt were both injured, with Amorim retaining the rising star in his defence following a 1-1 draw against West Ham.
"He's trusting me a lot," said Heaven of Amorim. "I feel like I'm working hard every day in training and I'm showing he can trust me in the games that I'm playing."
United's next match is at home to Bournemouth on Monday.
G.Palmiero--INP
