Villarreal coach Unai Emery defended his players after their Champions League defeat at home to Manchester United.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho struck late to leave Villarreal needing to win at Atalanta to reach the round of 16.

Emery said, "We perhaps should've been a bit calmer in the play that led to their opener, but it's not an individual mistake, it's our style of football that we play.

"We made a mistake, but it's a mistake from something we want to be our strength, which is possession football. Granted, we need to reduce the number of errors we make but their goal could've come in a different manner, Rulli made a great stop from Sancho for example.

"I'll take positives from the 60 or 70 minutes that we were the better side than the favourites tonight. In the end, they were better and we couldn't force a draw after going behind. These things happen and we now need to focus on trying to qualify against Atalanta."