“In the away leg we conceded two goals late on which was disappointing so it was good the boys had that bit about them later on in the game to manage it right and properly and not give them any opportunities, so that was pleasing.
“As you progress through the competition the tests get harder and you get different types of games. It’s probably [been] a nice one for us in that over the two legs we’ve had a lot of the ball, we’ve scored a lot of goals, we’ve had opportunities to practise certain things that the group are going after and individually. And the boys have done well over the two games and deserve the opportunity in the next round, so we look forward to it.”
AZ ALKMAAR NEXT
United will now face AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Youth League third round, with the first leg to be played in the final week of November. The Dutch side won the tournament in 2022/23.
“We know they’re a very good Academy,” Lawrence said.
“They won this competition two years ago, so you probably only need to go as far as that, really. They have a good reputation of developing young players and obviously they’ve been successful in this competition.
“We want to get in this competition and progress through it to play against the best across Europe and really test ourselves and we’re definitely going to get that across the two legs, so the lads are really looking forward to it.”