De Gea, Maguire hail ‘importance’ of Leeds win as Man Utd No. 1 has ‘perfect day’ at Elland Road
David de Gea says he had a “perfect day” as he kept a clean sheet in his 400th Premier League appearance for Manchester United in the 2-0 win at Leeds United.
United came out on top against their fierce rivals after Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho both scored in the last ten minutes.
The win puts Erik ten Hag’s side second in the Premier League, above reigning champions Manchester City, while Leeds are teetering just above the bottom three.
De Gea made a landmark 400th top-flight appearance for the Red Devils and thinks the win and clean sheet at Elland Road made it a “perfect day” for him.
“Today wasn’t about that, it was about winning the game and we did it so now I can enjoy the 400 Premier League games,” De Gea told Sky Sports.
“It’s great to come here, play like we did today. Clean sheet, three massive points and 400 games; perfect day.
“You saw how much it meant at the end of the game. The fans, the players. We deserved to win at home but today we did.
“Great game, we knew if we could keep a clean sheet we would win the game so we did it. We fought until the end like a team.
“Players like Harry [Maguire], he has not been playing as much as he can. He played today and he played fantastic so that means that the team is playing strong.”
Maguire came in to make his first Premier League start since January 3 and was happy to keep a clean sheet.
“Winning the game is the most important, I’m captain of the team and I put the team miles before myself,” the 29-year-old said.
“Whether I’m playing or not I want the team to win and be successful so it’s been a good season up until now, still a lot of improvement and the big games but it’s nice to come here, get a clean sheet and a victory and it’s a good one for the fans.
“We know coming to Elland Road is going to be a tough place, there’s going to be times where they have a little bit of momentum and it came early in both halves.
“We had to dig in the second half as well but we focused, we knew that our quality would come through so we knew that we had to battle and fight for every ball and keep the ball out of our net.
“It’s credit to the lads and their spirit. We know how important this victory is to our fans, having not got it in the week. We were disappointed and we knew today was about revenge and we got that.”
Meanwhile, both clubs issued a joint statement condemning sickening chants heard during the game at Elland Road.
The match was played out in a cauldron of noise and the usual hostilities stepped over the mark shortly before the interval when small groups of rival fans traded grim chants about the 1958 Munich disaster and the death of two Leeds fans in Istanbul in 2000.
The clubs’ statement read: “Both clubs strongly condemn chanting from both sets of fans regarding historic tragedies at today’s game.
“Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will continue to work together with our respective fan groups and the Premier League and other authorities on eradicating it from football.”
The Premier League also released a statement, which read: “The Premier League condemns the chanting heard during today’s match between Leeds United and Manchester United.
“The League is treating the issue of tragedy chanting as a priority and as a matter of urgency.”
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