Jadon Sancho shed light on his special relationship with Borussia Dortmund after the on-loan forward helped the German side qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday.
Sancho was roped in by Manchester United from Dortmund for 85 million euros in August 2021 but didn’t get regular playing time and returned to Germany on a temporarily after his relationship worsened with manager Erik ten Hag.
The 23-year-old notched up an early goal and Marco Reus netted in the dying minutes against Eindhoven to bag a 3-1 aggregate victory and qualified for the final eight for the first time in three years.
"I've always got a special place for Dortmund," Sancho told TNT Sports.
"This is where I kind of made my name. I've got to be grateful to them, but also to my team mates, for believing in me.
"We had the advantage because we're playing in front of our home fans ... From the first whistle to the last, we stuck at our game plan and I'm happy that we got the win."
Dortmund are at fourth position on the Bundesliga table and face Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
"I think we really earned our quarter-final spot today with hard work," said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic. "We played perhaps the best 30 minutes of the season at the beginning."
"We should have scored more goals during that pressing phase. Unfortunately, in the second half, we stopped playing like that but defended with passion."