Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan has said “it’s an honor and responsibility” to be the most famous Armenian footballer at one of the world’s biggest clubs.
“An honour to know that a whole nation is behind me and a responsibility to play as well as I can to keep their spirits up,” Mkhitaryan said in an interview with MARCA’s Jason Pettigrove.
“It’s very special to see how proud people are for you, though when I enter the pitch my focus is solely on football,” he said.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan said the scorpion goal against Sunderland was “the best I’ve ever scored”, although the winning goal in the Europa League final was the most important one.
“It [scorpion goal] wasn’t something that I could plan ahead for. At that moment the only thing I could do was a back-heel it, which I did, and fortunately for me the ball went in,” the midfielder said.
Asked what he learned from his time in Manchester, Mkhitaryan said “I am still learning every day and there are no limits to my future improvement.”
“I will continue working as hard as I always have throughout my career,” he added.
As for his favorite moment from the life in England, the Armenian said “”In football, the best moments are the finals.”
“Definitely lifting the UEFA Europa League trophy in Stockholm was a special one”
“We worked so hard to win the competition and now we are really looking forward to being back in the UEFA Champions League.”
As for United’s expectations from the season, Mkhitaryan said “We always aim to win in every game and let’s hope things will go in our way in every competition.”
“We are a team that has Champions League in its DNA. Manchester United is the Champions League and the Champions League is Manchester United.”
“I will always give my best!” Mkhitaryan said, when asked about his personal ambitions for the 2017/18 campaign. “As a player, as well as an individual, I have my personal ambitions. But now it is time to give back to the club and our fans what they have been giving to us all those years.”
Henrikh said he has thought about opening a football academy in Armenia in the future to teach his football philosophy to the Armenian children.