Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho took a sly dig at Louis van Gaal after watching his side beat Benfica at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
A Mile Svilar own goal and a Daley Blind penalty late on put United on the verge of qualification to the knockout stages with two matches remaining in their group.
The Red Devils have come in for criticism in recent weeks for the manner of their performances but last night’s win meant Mourinho set a new club record of going 38 home matches unbeaten.
The 54-year-old made a ‘shushing’ gesture after Saturday’s 1-0 win against Tottenham and continued his assault on his critics by making a ‘yapping’ gesture following Blind’s penalty conversion.
Mourinho is clearly unhappy with the lack of credit he is receiving at the Theatre of Dreams and made a sly dig at Van Gaal’s lack of success in Europe while at the club in comparison after last night’s match.
‘I don’t know what’s the importance [of finishing first] because sometimes a team finishes first and gets a difficult draw against second and sometimes you get second and get somebody you didn’t expect, so I don’t know,’ said Mourinho.
‘What I know is we want to win the maximum points, we didn’t qualify yet, so we are going to try to win the next two matches and finish with 18 points. It would be nice.
‘The last time Manchester United was in the Champions League they finished third and went out of the Champions League, so it would be nice to do it and we will try.’
Van Gaal was handed a favourable group of PSV Eindhoven, Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow in the 2015/16 season but United finished third to enter the Europa League, where they were knocked out by Liverpool.
The Dutchman salvaged United’s season by winning the FA Cup but it was too little too late and he was sacked in order to bring in Mourinho.
MORE : Manchester United set new club record under Jose Mourinho after beating Benfica
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