By Samindra Kunti
May 25 – Manchester United delivered a José Mourinho masterclass to win a disappointing Europa League final 2-0 against Ajax, save their season and mitigate the ramifications of a difficult week for the club and the city somewhat. With the victory, Manchester United will return to the lucrative Champions League next season.
Finals are not for playing, but for winning. Those words are from Mourinho and he applied his philosophy with much vigor and success against Ajax in the Europa League final. The match was never exhilarating in spite of the promised clash between two different styles, Ajax with their ‘Cruyffian’ football and Manchester United with their pragmatic approach.
The English team dominated and outplayed a young and naive Ajax team, whose 4-3-3 formation looked frail. The outcome of the final felt somewhat inevitable once Paul Pogba scored the opening goal with a fortunate deflection in the 18th minute. After the restart Henrik Mkhitaryan delivered a hammer blow with a flicked goal. The Dutch never had a reply and played ‘sterile’ football.
“You know, it was really hard, that is why we didn’t want to have the press conference [before the final] because we had to prepare ourselves to do our job and to try to organise events that are much more important than our job,” said Mourinho. “But the world goes on and does not stop and we have to do our work.”
Paul Pogba echoed the sentiments of his coach. The midfielder dedicated the victory over Ajax to “England, Manchester and the people who died.”
“We know things like this are very sad, all over the world,” said Pogba. “We had to focus, it was very important. We won for Manchester, we worked for them, for the country. We play for England, for Manchester and for the people who died.”
“I agree with UEFA’s decision to play the match now,” continued Mourinho. “It obviously takes happiness from our achievement. If we could we would change peoples lives for this cup – we would not think twice. Does this cup make the city of Manchester a bit happier? Maybe. But we came to do our job and we can’t avoid the happiness because when you win you go away happy and proud. The boys were fantastic. They put on a block and stayed away from everything and concentrated on a football match, which we did very well.”
Mourinho and his team posed by a large banner that read ‘Manchester – A City United’.
The Portuguese coach reacted with an outpouring of emotions to United’s victory. He hugged his son and they rolled around the turf together. Mourinho and Manchester United finished the season on a high note, delivering a second trophy and claiming a ticket into the Champions League.
Manchester weren’t great, but Mourinho has a finals pedigree. He has won 12 of the 14 finals he has competed in. After scoring the opening goal Manchester reverted to Mourinho-type, playing functional football without any beauty, joyless football without fantasy.
Qualification for the Champions League ensures United do not suffer a £23 million penalty clause in their Adidas contract. They would have also incurred a £30 million drop in revenue next season if they had not won the final.
As winners of the Europa League Manchester will play the winners of the Champions League, Real Madrid or Juventus, in the European Super Cup in Skopje, Macedonia on August 8. By that time Mourinho may well have reinforced his squad heavily.
“Ed Woodward [United vice chairman] has my list, what I want, what I would like, for more than two months,” said the Manchester United coach. ”So now it’s up to him and the owners. But I don’t care about football for now.”
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