Press conference

'It'd be the icing on the cake to see him lift it'

Danny Welbeck was in fine form during Wednesday's press conference - even when put on the spot about Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson's legacies.

 

"I’m the mutual friend who put them in touch!" the England international joked, but he was in more serious mood when he discussed the possibility of winning the Europa League.

 

This is what Welbeck said:

 

on how to approach the first leg at home…

We need to get a positive result. We know it’s not going to be over tomorrow. It’s two legs, so hopefully we get a positive result tomorrow night to take us into the second game with the mindset to get through to the final.

 

on whether the players want to do it for him…

Yeah. Going into a semi-final in a European competition, you don’t need any extra incentive to win the game. I wanted to win the game before the manager announced he would be leaving, and I want to win it after. With the lads, everyone’s focused on winning the tie but obviously at the end of the competition, there would be that icing on the cake to see the manager lift the trophy.

 

on whether we’ll ever see managers like Wenger and Ferguson again…

I’ve been fortunate enough to work under two giants of the game. I’ve got immense respect for both of them. It’s difficult and different for me to say how long managers will be taking charge of football clubs these days. I’m just fortunate to have been able to play under both of them.

on what we have in store when Wenger leaves…

It’s different [to Manchester United]. It’s kind of different because it’s a different situation. Obviously with managers leaving, different clubs have different ways of approaching these situations. Hopefully we can face that in the right way and then hopefully try to move forward in a positive way rather than go down.