Wayne Rooney said Manchester United's players held an inquest among themselves after Sunday's "devastating" defeat to Liverpool and believes it helped them bounce back to beat Olympiakos on Wednesday.
#INSERT type:image caption:Wayne Rooney said a players' meeting helped United refocus for the Champions League. END#
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United progressed to the last eight of the Champions League with a 3-0 win over the Greek side, having lost by the same scoreline to Brendan Rodgers' side at Old Trafford three days earlier.
And Rooney revealed United's players were hit hard by the manner of their loss to Liverpool, when they were outplayed by their local rivals.
The striker said: "All the players will admit Sunday was a devastating result for us. To lose 3-0 the way we did was hard to take and we had to stand up and show ourselves and really be at our best because that was not good enough. We have done that [against Olympiakos] but we have to kick on now and we have to give performances like that every week."
Rooney said the United players discussed the defeat among themselves and addressed their shortcomings.
He added: "I'm not going to confirm the details of what happened but obviously we talk. We talk after every game, whether we win, lose or draw, but we knew as a team what went wrong on Sunday, we didn't need anyone to tell us, and we came out and delivered a big performance."
Rooney has become one of manager David Moyes' closest allies and, with the manager being heavily criticised after the Liverpool blow, he felt they had to deliver for the Scot.
He explained: "I've said before our performances this season haven't been good enough and we owe the manager a big performance, but we know as players we are better than what we've done this season. As a group we have to show that and put it right."
Robin van Persie, who had not struck in his previous three games, scored a hat-trick against Olympiakos and Rooney, who set up his second goal, praised his strike partner.
He said: "I think that just proves what a goalscorer he is. He has had critics over the last few weeks but he's worked hard, like we all have, and to score a hat-trick when we needed it the most shows what a player he is. He's a big-game player and we needed that."