Edwin van der Sar says Man Utd's FA Cup exit was harder to take because it was to local rivals City.
United keeper bemoans crucial errors
Edwin van der Sar admits Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final exit was harder to take given it was at the hands of local rivals Manchester City.
United were ejected from the tournament at Wembley on Saturday afternoon thanks to a second-half winner from City man Yaya Toure, while Paul Scholes was dismissed for an ugly tackle on Pablo Zabaleta.
And Red Devils goalkeeper Van der Sar says the defeat struck more of a blow due to the identity of their opponents.
"It is never nice to lose the game but a semi-final against City is even worse of course," he said.
"We had our chances in the first half and the tempo of the game was too slow for us. We should have sped up more.
"They scored in the second half because of a couple of mistakes from us and then it was difficult 10 versus 11.
"You don't like to concede but if it's a 25-yard screamer you can sometimes live with it but it was a scrappy goal and we didn't really clear the ball out of defence."
Not mourning
Van der Sar also said the Red Devils were not mourning the end of their Treble dream, suggesting it was primarily of interest to the media.
He said: "You guys have been talking up the treble of course, making comparisons with 1999 but now we start again tomorrow. We go to Carrington, do a normal warm down, take a bath, then go to play Newcastle."
City hitman Mario Balotelli infuriated some United players by celebrating in front of the Red Devils fans immediately after the final whistle.
Asked about the incident, Van der Sar made it clear the Italian's behaviour was unnecessary but stopped short of condemning his actions.
He added: "I think he misunderstood which side of the stadium he had to thank his supporters.
"Maybe in Italy they do it differently or something. Lets talk about football, it's much more important than these things."
