Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes his side showed real passion for overcoming Manchester City in the EFL Cup clash on Wednesday.  

The Red Devils clinched a narrow 1-0 victory over their city rivals at Old Trafford courtesy of a goal by playmaker Juan Mata.

The 53-year-old says it was important for his side to advance to the next round of the tournament and get a positive result, in order to repay their fans for loyalty to the club.

‘It is an important result because this is a knockout competition: if you lose you are out and if you win you are in. It is especially important because it was a way to create a better feeling for the absolutely wonderful fans that I have never seen before in my life,’ Mourinho told the Manchester United website.

‘After the defeat at Chelsea, to have this support is incredible. The love that these people have for the club is bigger than the result, it is bigger than the success and the trophies.’

The Portuguese manager believes his side showed real passion to overcome their city rivals and has reserved special praise for their good performance.

‘It is real love and it is real passion. I am very happy for them, I don’t care about myself. I am not happy because it is important for me, I am happy for the fans,’ he added.

‘I am happy for the players because they have absolutely everything. The performance was good, it was not phenomenal, but it was good. What was phenomenal was the spirit, the effort, and the solidarity. This is the minimum that we can give to the fans.’

Manchester United will now turn their focus back to the Premier League when they take on Burnley on Saturday.

The match at Old Trafford kicks off at 16:00.