Carrick vows Manchester United will go as far as possible on Champions League return

Michael Carrick has declared Manchester United are not returning to the Champions League simply to make up the numbers, insisting he will not rule out a deep run in Europe as the club hosts Azerbaijani champions Sabah at Old Trafford on Thursday.

United have been absent from European football’s top table since 2023, and have not reached a semi-final since Carrick’s own playing days in 2011. Yet the manager struck a defiant tone in the build-up to the opener, saying his squad is capable of causing surprises and that the expectation inside the club is to be competing in the Champions League every season.

“I think we’re capable of doing some really good things in this competition and going further down the line,” Carrick said. “I’m not writing anything off. We’re delighted to be here, but we’re not here to just enjoy the occasion. We’re here to do business and go as far as we possibly can.”

The return to elite European competition comes at a complicated moment domestically. United have collected only four points from their first three Premier League games, yet Carrick remains optimistic that the squad can find a higher gear in Europe.

“We’ve missed out on it for a number of years, and now we’re back,” he added. “It’s where we want to be every single year and it’s where we should expect to be without being ahead of ourselves.”

The timing of the fixture also presents a logistical challenge. United face Manchester City in a derby on Sunday, giving City — who beat Porto 2-0 on Tuesday — two additional days of recovery. Carrick acknowledged the schedule is less than ideal but said the squad must work with what they have.

There is also a minor fitness concern over left-back Luke Shaw, who missed training on Wednesday. Carrick was quick to play down any alarm, describing it as a routine recovery measure rather than an injury issue. “We just gave him an extra recovery day,” the manager explained. “It’s not an ongoing thing or a plan. It was just off the back of the game the other day.”