Benitez believes that Newcastle deserved a point against Man United
Newcastle United put up a resilient display at home but their efforts were not enough to stop a resurgent Manchester United from registering their fourth consecutive win.
Martin Dubravka’s handling error allowed Romelu Lukaku to open the scoring in the second half before Marcus Rashford scored from a counter-attack with ten minutes remaining.
Despite the obvious difference in quality on the pitch, Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez was of the opinion that a draw would have been a fair result for his team.
“We made a mistake for the first and after, when we were doing better, they scored the second goal on the counter-attack,” Benitez said.
“That normally happens when you play against good players, they punish you.
“We started quite well, there were two or three situations where we were quite close, and we also had some chances in the second half. We lost the game 2-0 but we deserved more.
“To win the game? I don’t know. But to be there and be close and get a draw, I think so.
“If you analyse how we concede, they didn’t create many clear chances. In the end, when we were more open and exposed, they were more dangerous, but for 80 minutes it was really close.
“We know that the final third is the key. When you pay big money for players, offensive players, they can make the difference.
“You have to give credit to our players because for 85 minutes they were in the game. In these kinds of games, one mistake and these players can make the difference.”