Van Gaal: I will never quit Man. United

Louis van Gaal described Manchester United’s FA Cup victory over Derby County as the ideal response to last Saturday’s dismal defeat by Southampton, saying he would celebrate by drinking wine given to him by Ed Woodward, the club’s executive vice-chairman.

And having posted an impressive performance to defeat Derby, Van Gaal suggested that the players had given evidence of the freedom he gives them to express themselves going forward.

Key Stat: Manchester United have won six-straight FA Cup clashes against Derby, the last five of which have come away from home. Now the confidence is back, we dared to play again and in spite of the pressure of Derby County in the second half we met that pressure, we created chances and we scored fantastic goals I have to say. “It was a great goal”.

United were booed off after losing 1-0 to Southampton in the Premier League at Old Trafford last weekend, which left them fifth and struggling to qualify for the Champions League, but backed by 5,000 fans they produced a more vibrant performance.

And the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss reiterated his desire to “continue to the end” of his three-year contract, which runs until the end of the 2016-17 season.

“You make your stories and people believe it. I am concerned that they are believing it”. I know it has been a few years since Manchester United won it, but I think we have to focus on each round.

The 27-year-old Spaniard has been hugely impressed by the young Frenchman since he joined the club in the summer and Mata believes he has a very bright future in the game. “It is not a question of one match”, he said”.

Derby head coach Paul Clement, twice an FA Cup victor with Chelsea when assistant coach to Guus Hiddink and then Carlo Ancelotti, could take plenty of positives from his team’s performance and quickly turned his attention to getting the Rams’ Championship promotion challenge back on track. He said that it was the “same philosophy” for all games.

Van Gaal said: “We have been first in the Premier League”.

“We came here to play football and play quicker and create more chances to score”.