United Briefing: One week, two huge home games

Our Europa League semi-final first leg against the Italians kicks off at 20:00 BST and offers a chance for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Reds to gain a crucial advantage ahead of next week’s trip to Rome, with a place in next month’s showpiece finale in Gdansk, Poland, up for grabs.

Liverpool at the Theatre of Dreams is traditionally the biggest game of any season for most United supporters, of course, and this weekend’s Premier League outing has added significance: a win would mean we finish above them in the table for the first time since the 2017/18 campaign.

So how is the mood ahead of this influential week of fixtures? Let’s hear from four key voices at the Aon Training Complex in Solskjaer, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Nemanja Matic…

Solskjaer:

“Roma defend well, as Italians always do of course. They’re an experienced team and we all know Edin Dzeko, so any ball in the box is a dangerous one. We’re looking forward to it, of course. We’re in a semi-final now and it feels like a proper European tie, because Roma is a club with loads of tradition and history, but we’ve done well against Italian teams before. We’re looking forward to it and we’re going into these games hoping to get to the final. If you can finish this season with a final and a trophy then that would be great.”