Ten Hag: We need to play our game

The Reds enter the Europa League last-16 second leg with the buffer of a 4-1 lead after the first leg, but Erik is well aware of the atmosphere that awaits his side.

He expects the home supporters to be "really behind their team" as the La Liga side look to overturn the deficit, reiterating the need for his players to focus on themselves and his tactics.

Along with this message, Ten Hag also touched on several other topics during his exclusive Matchday Q&A with club media, such as Alejandro Garnacho's injury, the return of three Reds to training and more.

You can read every single word from the Dutchman's interview below...

Erik it was a shame to lose [Alejandro] Garnacho to injury but [Victor] Lindelof, [Marcel] Sabitzer and [Anthony] Martial returned to training so does that give you a boost having more players back?
"Yes of course, but you never want to lose players. But also you know it is a risk of the season and when you play tough games, you can lose players but of course you are disappointed if you lose players by bad contact of opponents."

Does it open the door though for other players to impress now? Obviously there is a chance now for someone to replace injured players at any time?
"Yes and I have said that to several players. When players get injured, other players have to fill in. I think the whole season it was not optimum. We lost a lot of players during the season, but every time we put a team on the pitch [we are] really acting as a team who can adjust and deal with setbacks."

A third trip to Spain already in the Europa League this season, what have you learned from previous visits here?
"You [will] see a really frantic home crowd, an audience that are really behind their team so we have to be aware of that. But most important is to play our game and be proactive, we know they are very good and we have seen that in the first half last week at Old Trafford. We know that we have to again put 90 minutes in on the pitch like [we did] in the second half."

You have been here before already of course in December for that training camp, so how has that helped you prepare for this tie?
"It makes you know even more about the opponent. To be fair, we also had a mixed team and they had a mixed team in that time, so [in the] first half last week we really know the strength of the team, especially you know more about individual players."

How do you assess the Europa League so far? There are some really good sides that have been involved in the competition and some very good sides still left?
"[There are] some tough opponents. If you face [Real] Sociedad, if you face Barcelona, now Real Betis, you are facing strong opponents and we have to play our best. It is only going to get more difficult if it continues, but first, we have to compete for that, we have to battle for that and we have to play a game where we have to play our best football because we are playing against a strong opponent."

And just finally it's another big game at the weekend before the international break, so two big games left. Does the Sunday game have any bearing on your team selection for tonight’s game or do you take each game at a time?
"We don't talk about Sunday. It's about tomorrow and we will play our best team. When we finish this game tomorrow, we will start thinking about Sunday."