Simon Mignolet Hopes Manchester United Victory is Just the Start

Liverpool comprehensively beat their bitter rivals, Manchester United, 3-1 over two legs to earn a place in the Europa League quarterfinals. Along with their continued European adventures, Liverpool still have ten more games to play in the league. With the Premier League being as open as it is, they still have the opportunity to secure a European spot before season's end.

Simon Mignolet, in an interview, praises Jürgen Klopp and his teammates for their fantastic victory, and hopes that this momentum will propel them into finishing off the season on a high.

"I think we've had a few positive things this year and we could have done a few things better as well. We played a final for the League Cup, we're still featuring now in Europe, and the Premier League is open to fight for as well.

"There are many games to play until the end of the season so we don't want to look back over our shoulder to see what's been, we want to look to the future and we'll try to do our best in every single game until the end of the season and we'll see what that brings.

"Ever since the gaffer came in there's been a positive vibe around the club. I think now, after a while, everybody is starting to see the positive signs of what he brings.

"This year we played really well against top teams from the start of the season until now, both in Europe and England. But the main thing is that we have to try to be a bit more consistent when we play the other teams."

For all of the chaos of the season, Liverpool have yet to register a loss in Europe this season. For a team that has performed abysmally on the wider European stage over the last few campaigns, this run of games shows real progress for the team.

The fact that this good run has culminated in knocking out their fiercest rivals makes it even sweeter. About the games, Mignolet explained the team's mindset when faced with battling Manchester United after losing to them twice this season in the league.

"We only spoke about trying to win the game because that's what we always do for every single game, make a plan to see what we can do in the best possible way," he added.

"[We assess] the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents and how we can make a plan to try to win every fixture because we as Liverpool have to [approach] every game with the idea of trying to win and beat the opponent.

"It was the same thing [at Old Trafford]. We're very pleased. We wanted to win the game, that didn't happen, but a 1-1 draw was more than enough to go through to the next round because of the way we played at home at Anfield the week before.

"We put in a good performance again at Old Trafford. I think the first 20 minutes you have to accept that they'll put pressure on you and try to create chances, which is normal. They knew they had to score a goal.

"I think we responded well and then Phil scores a goal at the perfect time, just before half-time, which made it a bit easier and we controlled the game in the second half."

Liverpool will face German powerhouses Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals, and will need to continue their impressive form if they want to make their way into the semi-finals.