Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal put on a brave face and refused to blame an attack on his team’s bus for the serious setback to his side’s Champions League hopes at West Ham United.
Tuesday’s gripping 3-2 loss, which was preceded by the United team bus being pelted with cans and bottles outside the east London ground, leaves Van Gaal’s men needing to beat Bournemouth in their final match on Sunday and hope Manchester City lose at Swansea City if they are to creep into the Premier League’s top four.
“No, it is still not gone,” Van Gaal said of a top-four finish following the final match of West Ham’s 112-year tenure at the Boleyn Ground. “In the last match of the season, we can pass over Manchester City. They can lose and we can win. Then we are fourth. You can count, I think?”
Photo: Reuters
Van Gaal said to blame the bus attack for the result would have been an “excuse,” but he conceded that it could have affected his younger players.
“I have a long experience in football and there are players who don’t have the experience,” the 64-year-old Dutchman said.
While United still have an FA Cup final date with Crystal Palace to come on May 21, missing out on a top-four place would represent a massive disappointment, but Van Gaal believed Swansea could give City a hard battle.
“I don’t think it is not likely. In this league it happens a lot and Swansea City has a very good run,” he said. “It is a mental blow for the players, but against Bournemouth, we have to give everything so that we don’t give Manchester City a free trip into the Champions League.”
The Football Association announced an investigation after United’s bus was pelted with missiles outside the ground, causing a 45-minute delay to the kick-off.
The Metropolitan police said one officer and one member of the public had sustained minor injuries.
United goalkeeper David de Gea also appeared to have objects thrown at him during the game.
West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan blamed the visitors for not arriving earlier, but United captain Wayne Rooney said that “West Ham as a club will be disappointed with what the fans have done.”
A video posted on United midfielder Jesse Lingard’s Snapchat account showed several United players sheltering on the floor inside the bus while Lingard mockingly shouted: “Mummy.”
Needing to win to keep their top-four destiny in their own hands, United fell behind in the 10th minute when Manuel Lanzini teed up Diafra Sakho to score.
Anthony Martial scored twice to put United ahead, but Michail Antonio equalized with a bullet header before Dimitri Payet teed up Winston Reid to head home an 80th-minute winner.
The goal was a fitting conclusion to West Ham’s 2,398th and final match at the Boleyn Ground — also known as Upton Park — which the club will leave next season for London’s Olympic Stadium.
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