{"id":33190,"date":"2026-04-28T12:12:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33190"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:12:55","slug":"manchester-united-close-in-on-champions-league-spot","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/manchester-united-close-in-on-champions-league-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United close in on Champions League spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">Manchester United\u2018s 2-1 win over Brentford on Monday put them on the brink of Champions League qualification, but interim manager Michael Carrick said they must keep pushing to finish as high up the Premier League table as possible.<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The victory lifted United to third place on 61 points, 11 clear of sixth-placed Brighton &amp; Hove Albion, with four games remaining.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>With the top five qualifying for the Champions League next season, United need two more points to seal their return to Europe\u2019s elite competition after a two-year absence.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe Champions League is one thing, but it\u2019s not something that we should be over-celebrating either,\u201d former United midfielder Carrick told reporters.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe want to be finishing high up the league, really, and we want to be challenging high up in the league and trying to get more points so our season doesn\u2019t get to a close when that happens.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe have put ourselves in a good position, but there\u2019s still more work to be done,\u201d added Carrick, who took charge in January with United in sixth spot after Ruben Amorim\u2019s dismissal.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Casemiro was on the scoresheet on Monday, and while supporters have called on the club to keep him for another year, Carrick said the midfielder\u2019s situation was clear.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cFrom both sides, it\u2019s pretty clear. Probably the situation and the clarity of it have helped everything,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt means a lot to him and credit to him because of the situation that it is, he\u2019s given absolutely everything as well and had some big moments for us.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>United next face fourth-placed Liverpool on Sunday.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22848,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33190","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"United next face fourth-placed Liverpool on Sunday.","published_date":"","news_description":"United next face fourth-placed Liverpool on Sunday.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33191,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33190\/revisions\/33191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}