Evra: United paid for arrogance

Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has attributed his team’s poor performances in Europe this season to overconfidence.

Champions League finalists against Barcelona last year, United were dumped out of UEFA’s elite competition in the group stage.

And they exited the second-tier Europa League in the round of 16 on Thursday, going down 5-3 on aggregate against Athletic Bilbao.

“We think in the beginning of the Champions League, we’ve been too confident,” Evra said.

“We think ‘we have the name, we are going to pass the tour’, and after (that) we’ve been out against Basel.”

United were among the favourites for the Europa League after dropping into the competition, but they barely made it through the last 32, getting past Ajax 3-2 on aggregate despite losing the second leg 2-1 at home.

“It’s a bad year in Europe for Manchester United. We have to agree with that,” Evra said.