Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera dedicated their Europa League triumph over Ajax Amsterdam to the victims of the deadly bomb attack in Manchester on Monday, while Juan Mata and Paul Pogba also paid tribute to those affected.
A minute's silence was held before the game, which turned into applause, in honour of the 22 people killed and 64 injured in the blast at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena, the night before the team left for the final in Stockholm.
Goals from France international Pogba and Armenian Henrik Mkhitaryan in each half gave United their first European trophy since 2008, and their first Europa League crown.
I want to dedicate the trophy to the victims. This is just football, but what happened on Monday was horrible. We want peace in the world and respect. This happened in Manchester, but everywhere we have to be a united world to fight for peace and to have no more attacks.Ander Herrera
He added:
Yesterday morning we were devastated and really sad. It was difficult to train yesterday, but the manager told us is that the only thing we could do is win this for them.
Herrera's compatriot Mata said Monday's shocking events in Manchester gave the win in Stockholm extra significance.
It means a lot as it is my first European trophy with United and after what happened yesterday (22 May) it is nice to bring a trophy back for Manchester. It has been a really difficult week in the city of Manchester and we are happy to win for all the people that have suffered. We have won a trophy the club has never won so we are really happy.
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Pogba, who moved to Manchester aged 16 to join United's set up and returned last summer from Juventus for a world record 89 million pounds fee, added:
We know things like this are very sad all over the world. We had to focus. Manchester – we won for them. We played for England, we played for Manchester and we played for them – the people who died.”
(With inputs from PTI.)
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