ANDONI Iraola is hoping to replicate one of his best days in football by leading Cherries to victory away at Old Trafford this weekend.

Cherries visit Manchester United in Premier League action on Saturday (3pm) having never won at the Theatre of Dreams.

In 10 attempts, their best result was a 1-1 draw achieved in March 2017.

But Iraola has tasted victory at Old Trafford, captaining Athletic Club to a famous 3-2 win over Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils in the Europa League in March 2012.

The following week Athletic completed the job, the Basque side winning 2-1 at home to advance to the quarter-finals of Europe’s secondary cup competition.

Reflecting on that memory, Iraola shared: “Probably one of the best days in my football career.

“The second game against them, I think to win in this kind of scenery, you always remember these kinds of games.

“We have the chance tomorrow, again.

“Last season even, we played a friendly with Rayo Vallecano against (Manchester United).

“But even if it’s a friendly you don't want to lose.

“You want to compete. You want to do things well.

“Tomorrow there are points involved and we still need points, because even if we are doing very well, our start of the season has been very bad.

“So we are still in a position where we need points.”
The second leg featured a highlight of Iraola’s attacking play, the right-back marauding forward and beating Manchester United trio Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans before finishing wide with his weak foot.

“I will never forget it,” he reminisced.

“There are very good things about this play, a very bad one - my left foot was not the best and I couldn't finish the play.”

Iraola has used the clip as a learning point for his players.

He continued: “But always when they ask me the players, sometimes they ask me because they see on YouTube, you have to see that the most important thing is straight away I came back running to my position, recover my position and that is for me what I try to tell them.”