Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick said his team is not in the Champions League to just enjoy the occasion. The Red Devils will take part in the Europe’s most elite football competition after a long gap of 1000 days. United were able to qualify for the UCL after they ended the previous season in third place.

Carrick’s team has got off to a mix start this season. They started their campaign with a 0-2 loss against Hull City and then registered a comprehensive 5-2 win against Ipswich Town. United were leading by 2-1 against Everton but a late stoppage time goal forced them to share the spoils.

The Red Devils will begin their Champions League campaign against Sabah on Thursday. Carrick has backed his players to make an impact in the tournament.

“It’s where we want to be, it’s what we want to get back to, and it’s the best competition to challenge yourself and to push against the best,” Carrick told a news conference on Wednesday.

“We’re delighted to be here, but we’re not here to just enjoy the occasion. We’re here to do business and go as far as we possibly can.

“We’re capable of some really, really good things, you know, and especially on our day, we feel that we can go up against anybody and come out on top.”

Luke Shaw is doubtful for the clash as he missed the training session and Carrick revealed that the decision was taken to manage his workload.

“We just gave him an extra recovery day today,” he said.

“We’ll see by tomorrow how he is, but it’s not an ongoing thing or a plan or anything like that. It was just off the back of the game the other day. So, as normal, each individual has different little things that we manage and Luke was one of them today.”