Manchester United's Edwin van der Sar Wants Trophies Not Records
stonejah said
12:22 02/22 2009
Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has stated that he is not concentrating on achieving records for himself, but more on winning trophies for the club.
The former Ajax keeper has now gone 14 games without conceding a goal for the current Premier League leaders, which was a new British record.
The Red Devils conceded a goal to Blackburn Rovers yesterday in a nervy 2-1 win for the current Premier League holders, but the Dutch keeper was rested for this game as Tomasz Kuszczak took his place in the starting line-up.
The 38-year-old keeper admits he was aware of the record as it approached, but is adamant that he was focused only on winning trophies for the club.
Speaking to The Independent on Sunday, Van der Sar said, "I'm proud, of course, but what you start the season for is winning prizes and that's probably not going to be decided until the last two games or so.
"It's getting a lot of attention but I've never been someone who wanted to be the centre of attention.
"Sometimes you read a story or the programme notes saying it's going to be 63 minutes (for a record), then in the second half you have a quick look up (at the scoreboard) to see how many minutes are gone.
"But I don't really like it. The main thing is winning the games."
United face a stiff test in Inter Milan on Tuesday night in the first knockout round of the Champions League and the former Holland international is up for the challenge.
"I think Inter is one of the hardest teams to play against at this stage," he added.
"If we want to repeat what we did last year we have to beat strong teams. It will be interesting also with (Jose) Mourinho's history in England, he probably knows a lot of things about our team and we have to make sure we're up to the challenge.
"Hopefully Inter doesn't give us so many surprises, although you know Mourinho, he can always pull one out of the hat in the way he wants to play.
"They've got experienced players who know how the game works. It's only the last 16 and there's a long way to go but obviously we want to repeat or even better what we did last year."
The former Ajax keeper has now gone 14 games without conceding a goal for the current Premier League leaders, which was a new British record.
The Red Devils conceded a goal to Blackburn Rovers yesterday in a nervy 2-1 win for the current Premier League holders, but the Dutch keeper was rested for this game as Tomasz Kuszczak took his place in the starting line-up.
The 38-year-old keeper admits he was aware of the record as it approached, but is adamant that he was focused only on winning trophies for the club.
Speaking to The Independent on Sunday, Van der Sar said, "I'm proud, of course, but what you start the season for is winning prizes and that's probably not going to be decided until the last two games or so.
"It's getting a lot of attention but I've never been someone who wanted to be the centre of attention.
"Sometimes you read a story or the programme notes saying it's going to be 63 minutes (for a record), then in the second half you have a quick look up (at the scoreboard) to see how many minutes are gone.
"But I don't really like it. The main thing is winning the games."
United face a stiff test in Inter Milan on Tuesday night in the first knockout round of the Champions League and the former Holland international is up for the challenge.
"I think Inter is one of the hardest teams to play against at this stage," he added.
"If we want to repeat what we did last year we have to beat strong teams. It will be interesting also with (Jose) Mourinho's history in England, he probably knows a lot of things about our team and we have to make sure we're up to the challenge.
"Hopefully Inter doesn't give us so many surprises, although you know Mourinho, he can always pull one out of the hat in the way he wants to play.
"They've got experienced players who know how the game works. It's only the last 16 and there's a long way to go but obviously we want to repeat or even better what we did last year."