Bruno Fernandes says confidence is building at Manchester United but knows they will only be measured on results after progressing to the Europa League's last eight.

United's only hope of silverware this season is in UEFA's second-tier competition, in which they thrashed Real Sociedad 4-1 at Old Trafford on Thursday to secure a 5-2 aggregate win.

Fernandes scored a hat-trick in the second-leg hammering, including two goals from the penalty spot, before Diogo Dalot sealed their passage into the quarter-finals, where Lyon lie in wait.

"This club is all about winning. We need to win games," the United captain told TNT Sports.

"We have a long way to go, but we are confident if we focus on every game ahead and have the right mentality, we can win games.

"With the result and performance, when you start to get a bit more confident, confidence is a big thing in football.

"We are doing very good progress, but the progress will be seen if we get results. At this club, it is all about results."

Mikel Oyarzabal, who levelled from the penalty spot in the first leg, opened the scoring with another spot-kick early in the return meeting after Matthijs de Ligt was adjudged to have fouled La Real's captain.

United levelled just six minutes later after Rasmus Hojlund was felled following Fernandes' smart offload, and the Portugal international made no mistake from the spot.

"Obviously, it was good for us. We react quick," Fernandes, who has scored the most Europa League penalties in history (10), said.

"A penalty is a bit unlucky, but then we get our penalty with a great ball from Casemiro."

Fernandes repeated the trick from 12 yards in the second half after Patrick Dorgu was felled, before firing into the far corner following Alejandro Garnacho's driving run to seal his hat-trick.

That moved Fernandes onto 41 goal involvements in the competition (24 goals, 17 assists), the outright most in Europa League history.

Hojlund then selflessly teed up Dalot's late strike, easing the growing pressure on the out-of-form United striker, who has struggled in front of goal for Ruben Amorim's side.

"He is a striker, strikers are all about goals," Fernandes said of his team-mate. "For us, in the dressing room, we want Rasmus to score as many as he can.

"When the first one comes, he will start to score more and more."

United are now unbeaten in 16 Europa League knockout matches at Old Trafford (W11 D5), last losing in March 2012 against Athletic Bilbao.