David De Gea saye he should have had half an assist for Bruno Fernandes' superb goal for Manchester United in our 4-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday after his quick-thinking and perfect aim kicked off the move that led to our no.18 finding the top corner.
De Gea volleyed a delicious long pass upfield to find Mason Greenwood on the break. The ball soon found its way to Fernandes to fire a screamer after Paul Pogba again supplied the final pass.
Asked about his part in the move by club media's Stewart Gardner, our no.1 joked: “It should be half an assist! [Smiles]
”I have done this many times. Sometimes, you make a good pass but it doesn’t end in a goal so it takes on less importance. I like to pass the ball and play as quickly as possible because I know we have fast players in the team so we try to play quick on the counter-attack.
“I feel very well, I feel strong, confident,”
he added. “I try to train at 100 per cent every day and help the team all the time... with the distribution and with everything, with the boys at the back, with some presence, I’m here to help the team.”
The Reds will be looking to kick off our Champions League campaign with a similar result to that gained against Young Boys three years ago.
United secured a 3-0 win that evening and De Gea is hoping for more of the same and for the squad to learn from last season's group-stage disappointment in the competition.
“First of all, we don’t want to feel the same as we felt last season,”
he declared. “We have strong teams in the group and we need to start very well and continue to the end of the group.
”To be in Champions League is always great. We won here three years ago with a full stadium, the fans here are very good so it will be nice to play here again and, as well, it’s going to be a tough game. Let’s see what happens, we start here, so let’s play well and let’s win.“
De Gea is set to make his 80th European career appearance in Bern and the man himself is determined to help the team make it a night to remember and a season to cherish in the competition.
“It’s always amazing, playing in Europe. Me and the club have big ambitions,”
he added. “We want to win everything, we have a very good team and we have signed very good players. We need to stay calm and go game by game.”