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Rob Dawson, Correspondent
André Onana has said that winning the FA Cup would not be enough to save Manchester United‘s season.
A disastrous campaign which has seen United record their lowest ever Premier League finish will culminate with a second successive FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday.
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But Onana said that winning the trophy, which would come with a place in the Europa League, would not be enough to salvage the season.
“It would make things look better,” Onana said. “It’s important to end well and winning this game would mean we’re in the Europa League. We know how important it is for us as players and the club to be in Europe.
“I wouldn’t say it would be successful. Playing for this club, winning the FA Cup I don’t think it’s enough. We’re used to playing in the Champions League, some of us have played in Champions League finals. It’s been a difficult season.”
Onana has been busy in his first season at Old Trafford following his £43 million ($54.8m) move from Inter Milan last season.
No one made more than his 149 saves in the Premier League, in part because of United’s tendency to concede a lot of shots.
Erik ten Hag’s team won their final league games against Newcastle and Brighton, but still conceded a combined 38 attempts over the course of the two matches. Onana, though, insisted he doesn’t mind having to do so much work.
“I don’t know if it is too many but it is the situation we are in at the moment,” he said.
“We have to accept it and deal with it. We face so many injuries, an injury crisis. Of course it is not an excuse because wearing this badge you must be able to represent this club on top but at the moment this is the situation we are facing and we have to deal with it. I don’t mind facing 20 or 30 shots.
“We have faced a lot of difficulties this season and we have had to adapt to the situation. Obviously we would love to have all of them [the injured players] back but at the moment, it is what we have.”