The Red Boss has put winning the Premier League above a Champions League triumph. The Manchester United boss has set his sights on adding the English crown to the titles he has already won in Holland, Spain and Germany. And he has admitted that success in Europe is secondary in his list of priorities.
Van Gaal, who guided Ajax to the Champions League in 1995, said: “For me, it’s the Premier League.
“The Premier League is the greater prize because I have already won the Champions League. The Premier League I have never won, so that is more important. “Of course, I should not say that because every title is welcome.”
United face CSKA Moscow in the Russian capital on Wednesday, with their hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the Champions League still finely balanced.
An opening defeat at PSV Eindhoven was followed by a victory over Wolfsburg at Old Trafford. The Dutchman was full of praise for Herrera and his team after a routine 3-0 win at Goodison Park, adding it's not important whether Wayne Rooney scores, Louis van Gaal insists it's not important whether Wayne Rooney scores after seeing the striker do just that in a comfortable 3-0 win at Goodison Park - a first club away goal for the striker since November last year.
Rooney fired the Red Devils three clear in the second half after a quick-fire first-half double by Morgan Schneiderlin and Ander Herrera ensured that there was never any chance of the Toffees getting anything from the game.
That was his 187th Premier League goal , taking him level second with Andrew Cole in the all-time top scoring Premier League charts.
The United chief also spoke about Ander Herrera's excellent performance, as the Spaniard scored one and set another up on a rare start.
But it seems his manager is still not fully convinced, saying: "It's difficult to drop him, but I can do it."
Van Gaal was keen to play down the importance riding on whether or not Rooney is the one finishing off the chances, as long as his team is scoring.
"I'm happy for (Rooney), but for me it's not important if he scores or doesn't score," the Dutchman said. Speaking to Sky Sports, he added: " I said a lot in a press conference last Friday, we have to score like a team. Because of the attention on Wayne I am happy he scored, I believe his last goal here was in 2007.
"That is crazy but now I think he shall score more."
Despite praising his team for a "fantastic" response to the disappointing performance at the Emirates two weeks ago, Van Gaal was keen not to overstate the importance of one away win.
"It is only one match. Also Arsenal is only one match. We don’t have to exaggerate. "We have to be more consistent so next week when we win against Manchester City then we can say OK, now we think maybe about title aspirations.
"But of course we are always having the target of champions. That is of course important in our ambition but it also has to be real. It’s too early to talk about that."
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