After its worst Premier League season finish at 15th, Manchester United began an offseason tour in a disastrous fashion, losing its first match against a Southeast Asian All-Star team 1-0 in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. A loss in the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur last week, meant its European season ended without a trophy. However, former United captain Harry Maguire is confident to rediscover the United charm in the coming season after training hard in the preseason.
"It is easy to say the season has been disappointing. We are not happy with how the season has gone as we wanted to end up higher in the Premier League. We reached Europa League final hoping to perform, It was a tight game and it was disappointing to lose. Next season it will be fresh start and it is important that we improve a lot."
English footballer Maguire along with Portugese full back Diogo Dalot, and Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana were in Mumbai on Thursday and played football with city kids. The trio who were on their maiden visit to India, officially launched and kicked off the activities for the fifth season of the United We Play programme. Over the past four seasons, the United We Play programme has reached out to over 30000 aspiring footballers across 25 cities in India.
On coming to India for the commercial event and playing with kids at Cooperage Stadium here on Thursday, Maguire said, “It has been a privilege to be here today launching the new season of ‘United We Play’. Manchester United has fans around the world and we can feel the passion that exists for the team and for the sport here in India. The work of the club and Apollo Tyres is ensuring the next generation of talent has the opportunity play football in excellent facilities, with the infrastructure around them to nurture talent. We have seen first-hand today how impactful the United We Play programme is and the positive effect it has at the grassroots level.”
Grassroots football programme
Apollo Tyres today announced the launch of the fifth edition of its flagship grassroots football programme, United We Play (UWP), in the presence of Maguire, Onana and Dalot.
Supported by Manchester United, United We Play is a pan-India initiative by Apollo Tyres to support young footballers in India by giving them a platform to showcase their skills with the objective of motivating aspiring footballers to continue playing, by engaging with them, and introducing them to global training methods.
